Needlework sampler stitched by Jane Miller, Waterloo, Sierra Leone

The sampler strongly resembles those known to have been worked by children who were educated in schools run by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) or resided in the homes of CMS missionaries in the 1830s and 1840s as described by Silke Strickrodt in her article, 'African Girls' Samplers from Mission Schools in Sierra Leone (1820s to 1840s)', History in Africa, 37, (2010): 189-245. Project MUSE (available online: http://muse.jhu.edu/).

It has not been possible to find any definitive information about Jane Miller other than that which is given on the sampler, in other words that she was born c 1829 and was in Waterloo, Sierra Leone in 1841. It is likely that Jane Miller was an African child, either born in Sierra Leone to a parent, or parents, who had been rescued from slavery, or indigenous to the area.

Open, access to all registered researchers.

Presented by a co-executrix of the will of the Honorable Christopher Lennox-Boyd, 5 December 2014.

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Some moth holes visible. The sampler was glazed and framed when received by Cadbury Research Library; the frame was removed by Conservation staff, 10 December 2014, and subsequently mounted on board. .

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

In 2002, the sampler was sold at auction for a hammer price of £1,175 (Christie's Sale number 9305, 29 January 2002, London, South Kensington, Lot 261). Prior to donation to Cadbury Research Library, it was owned by the Honourable Christopher Lennox-Boyd (1941-2012), antiquarian scholar and print collector, and was amongst his personal effects when he died in 3 August 2012. No further details on the provenance and custodial history are known.

Cadbury Research Library holds a number of other samplers in the Church Missionary Society Archive (GB 0150 CMS) and the Church Missionary Society Unofficial Papers (GB 0150 CMS/ACC).