Brenda M. King, The Wardle Family and its Circle: Textile Production in the Arts and Crafts Era

Abstract

Brenda M. King’s long-awaited The Wardle Family and its Circle illuminates the industrious, creative and entrepreneurial activities of the Staffordshire-based Wardle family across the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Despite being highly acclaimed in artistic, intellectual and commercial circles during their lives, histories of the Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic Movements— and textile histories and histories of entrepreneurial families more generally — have, until now, largely overlooked the extent of the Wardles’ frenetic, pioneering accomplishments. The book is organised around four thematic chapters, the first of which offers an introduction to the Wardles and discusses important moments, such as William Morris’s many interactions with the family. Several family members were involved in the business, but key figures were the professional embroiderer Elizabeth; her husband Thomas, an artist and chemist who pioneered manufacturing processes in Indian wild silk dyeing; and Elizabeth’s brother, George Young Wardle, a designer who worked with both William Morris and Thomas Wardle. The second chapter tells the history of the Leek Embroidery Society. Launched in 1879–1880 by Thomas and Elizabeth, it became widely known for its production of exquisite domestic and ecclesiastical work, with most of the materials being manufactured, dyed and printed in Staffordshire. The third chapter discusses the Society’s creation of a facsimile of the Bayeux Tapestry, reflecting on how and why it was made and asserting its significance. The final chapter argues for the collaborative nature of the work produced for the new Gothic Revival churches in the Staffordshire area during this area, revealing that the architects who created the designs worked closely with the needlewomen who interpreted their schemes for church interiors, as well as the workers who produced the materials. This engaging book makes several crucial contributions. Positioning the Wardle family centre-stage contributes to the growing scholarly move to recalibrate understanding of the Arts and Crafts Movement by moving the focus away from the activities of a small cluster of elite men based in South-East England. Rather than simply following in the footsteps of better-known names, the Wardles, based in Leek in the West Midlands, are shown as pioneering creative figures in their own right. The focus on Elizabeth Wardle is a welcome contribution. Chapter 3 provides evidence for the significance of the embroidery she produced and her public role in the Leek community. Moreover, King makes an important wider argument about the need for greater specificity when considering the historical activities and agency of female needlework artists: ‘The concept of the suppressed seamstress or bored housewife who plies a needle is a seductive and persistent one, but has denied the public acclaim that many creative women undoubtedly experienced’ (p. 187). Her brief analysis of trade directories tantalisingly reveals that several women set up embroidery-related businesses in Leek during this period. Throughout the book there was, however, little discussion about how class status (alongside gender) mediated the opportunities of those involved. Instead, Leek was portrayed as a place where ‘If they wished it, everyone in the town had