Sampler

This sampler is a typical example of the creative handiwork of Scottish girls in the nineteenth century. Through the making of a sampler, girls learnt stitching and also their letters and numbers. Young girls in Scotland, like their counterparts in New Zealand, would make their first samplers aged either five or six. In Scotland, samplers appear to have been an essential part of a girl's formal education until about 1900.

The Lawson sisters
This is one of three samplers in Te Papa's collections made by two sisters, Jeanie and Agnes Lawson, who attended Kilconquhar School in Fife, Scotland. This sampler by Jeanie Buist Lawson (1873-1965, Scotland/New Zealand) was made in 1886 when she was 13 years old.

Family history sampled
It is highly personalised and records Jeanie Lawson's family history through the initials of her family. Those with black initials indicates how deceased relatives were identified in Scottish samplers. Jeanie has also included the name of her school. There are 12 sets of initials on this sampler and they relate to her immediate family and to her grandparents.

Top line from left to right: JL James Lawson, her father, born 1831 / JB Jessie Buist, her mother, born 1838, died 1885 / MWL Mary Webster Lawson, older sister, born 1868, died 1870 / BL Bernard Lawson, older brother, born 1871 / JBL Jeanie Buist Lawson, herself, born 1873.

Second Line: AL Agnes Lawson, younger sister, born 1875 / JL Jessie Lawson, younger sister, born 1877, died 1878 / CL Catherine Lawson, younger sister, born 1879 / BL Bernard Lawson, grandfather, born 1801, died 1875 / AL Agnes Lawson, grandmother, born 1807, died 1861 / CB Charles Buist, grandfather, born 1807 / MW Mary Webster, grandmother, born 1806, died 1882.