Page 16 - Demo

12British orphanages, asylums and institutions that housed and educated the underserved also taught their female students the needlework skills that would help them to find careers in service of well-todo households. Some of these institutions, such as the Muller Orphanage of Bristol, housed thousands of girls, and a great number of samplers were made by Muller girls and young ladies throughout the mid to late 19th century. We are pleased to have discovered a handsome and very finely worked sampler that was made at a school previously unknown to sampler scholars and collectors, the Royal Asylum of the St Ann%u2019s Society at Brixton Hill. The history of this institution is well documented in a variety of publications. Established in the first decade of the 18th century, St. Ann%u2019s Society was founded in St. Ann%u2019s Lane in London, to clothe and educate 12 local boys from families in need; in short order their population was expanded to 30 boys and 30 girls. The Society changed its name to the Royal Asylum of St. Ann%u2019s Society in 1846 when it incorporated by Act of Parliament, with royal patronage. Its stated mission was to provide education and instruction in religious and useful knowledge, and to provide clothing, maintenance and a home for legitimate children, orphans or other, of parents who have seen better days. It was funded by charitable donation provided by benefactors and bequests. In 1829, a large and handsome building was built at Brixton Hill in Surrey, south of London to house a country branch of the Society. Amelia Conway, Royal Asylum of the St. Ann%u2019s Society, Brixton Hall, Surrey, England, 1850(continued on the next page)