Wessexwork Memorial Sampler

When I first discovered Wessex Stitchery - invented by Margaret Foster in the 1910s - I thought immediately of a memorial sampler for George Leigh-Mallory and Andrew Irvine, who perished on Everest in 1924.

I drew up the plan on graph paper immediately.


It is full of little puns in the stitches - Winchester for George's public school, Pacific with its waves for their both being in their respective college boats, Lindisfarne for its stained glass effect [there is a stained glass window at the church in Mobberly of George as Sir Galahad, his nickname], their respective college colours. It is meant to emulate that stained glass window, and give a sense of the magnificent colours of the Himalayas, while imparting some knowledge of their lives, in the ways that they were similar (many.) It ends with the closing line of a poem, written in 1909, by George's dear friend and climbing partner, the great Geoffrey Winthrop-Young (who dubbed George Galahad):

'Brothers 'til Death and a windswept Grave.
Ye who have climbed to the great white Veil -
Heard ye the chant, saw ye the Grail?'

Below is a picture of some of the stitches - my working sampler - and also a pic of George 'looking as if he's been dragged through a hedge' as one English friend of mine said.