Textile and Industrial Heritage - Joseph Watson & Sons

When the images for the panels were being chosen by Kate she was given a small booklet on the history of 'Soapy Joe's' as the firm was affectionately called.

Apparently, as well as wrappers being returned to Watsons there was also a steady flow of correspondence from satisfied customers. I quote Mrs Far of Dudley, writing in the 1890s

'Sir, Your soap is like its name, entirely Matchless and a friend on wash days. It cured all my children's heads of ring worms and one had 28 on his face and neck.'

As the Tapestry grew, Kate found very little time to embroider for the project. This piece however was done by her, hand stitched on printed fabric.

Textile and Industrial Heritage - Watson's Matchless Cleanser

Another prize lead product was Matchless Cleanser. In the nineteenth century Leeds was not only famed for its woollen cloth finishing but was also the greatest leather producer in Britain and one of the tanning factories belonged to Joseph Watson.


The tallow extracted during the process was sold as a by-product until Joseph's sons pursuaded him to use it themselves to make soap. They were so successful that they soon had to build a new factory on Whitehall Road, and it was there that they introduced 'Matchless Cleanser' a product that was advertised in a new and novel way. Everyone who sent in at least 30 wrappers was guaranteed a prize and at its height the advertising campaign employed 250 people in the prize wrapper department, sending out 750,000 prizes a year.

This piece was hand stitched by Betty Laycock (6 hours) on printed fabric.

Sports for All - Bobby Whiteley, Bramley

The last of the Baines cards and I'm out of my comfort zone. Apparently Bramley, prior to 2nd June 1896, was a rugby union club, so W Bobby Whiteley (born 1871) may have played both Union and League for the club. As a Rugby Union player Bobby won a cap for England in 1896.

According to one of the websites dedicated to these cards Mr Baines offered the boys prizes if they had collected so many and took them back to the base in Bradford. What is not mentioned is whether the cards had to be handed in or were kept by the boys. It reminded me of the Sunday School sticker books in the 1950s. A good way to encourage regular attendance by the children but I think they were handed in for certificates, a shame that we couldn't keep them. Finally found a reference to them, presumably the collector stopped going to Sunday School before the book was finished. I know it's off the point but can anyone else remember them?

Ann Wheatley hand stitched this Baines card on printed fabric.

Sports for All - Jack White, Leeds City

Another of the Baines cards? This one of Jack (Jabez) White who played for Leeds City between 1908 and 1910. It seems there was some controversy with football and payments to team members and Leeds City was expelled from the Football League in 1919.

The same day as the players were sold off there was a meeting held with more than 1,000 of the current supporters leading to the formation of Leeds United Association Football Club with Elland Road as their home.

Audrey Pigeon hand stitched this piece.

Sports for All - Baron Hawke

A revelation.

Just been down to the Leeds Museum to see the new exhibition of costume - Heroes and Heroines (well worth the visit) - and happened to stray into one of the other galleries. I've wondered what these images on the Tapestry are, and where they come from. There's a whole collection of them on display and apparently they come from Baines of Manningham, Bradford.

The forerunners of collector's items such as whacky plaques and football sticker albums, they were sold at the turn of the last century (1890s onward) in packs of six for boys to collect. In the flesh they look similar to beer mats, but slightly smaller.

The subject of this particular card is 7th Baron Hawke (1860 - 1938) who was a noted captain of Yorkshire County Cricket. He was born in Gainsborough Lincolnshire, so presumably the rules for playing for the County were changed after he played for the team.

Hawke was first appointed Yorkshire captain in 1883 and held the post for 28 seasons until 1910, he remained the President of the club until his death in 1938.

I suspect the card came from Robin Dove's collection. An appropriate subject given that Muttiah Muralitharan has just taken his 800th wicket in test cricket today.

The embroidery was hand stitched by Joan Holah.

Local Faces - Sue Reddington MBE

Sue Reddington is the director of Meanwood Valley Urban Farm in Leeds which provides an escape route for inner-city children where they can experience rural life and develop an awareness and concern for their environment. She has worked for the organisation for more than twenty years and in the year 2000 was awarded an MBE for her work there.

She was hand embroidered by Val Gomersall (26 hours)
Above is the Meanwood Valley Urban Farm sign from the Environment Panel, forgotten in yesterday's post. This was hand stitched by Valerie Horner (5 hours)

Environment - Meanwood Valley Farm

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm was officially opened in 1980. From humble beginnings, operating from two old caravans with bed frames providing fencing, it has steadily grown to become a major centre for community and environmental work.

The farm is open to the public, with a cafe (closed on Mondays), and it also provides many other amenities to the community including holiday play schemes, development programmes for disabled people, and Re-Connect, an alternative for senior school children who have difficulty in main stream education.

There was a lot of photoshopping to get the pig house and animals into the photograph. The background was then printed onto fabric and machine stitched by Betty Bertrand. The animals were printed separately, hand stitched by Valerie Horner (12 hours) and then applied to the background. The large sheep looks a bit odd on the image above, with no front legs, these were omitted in the embroidery to prevent too much bulk behind the lamb when the animals were stitched to the background.