2007/38

This nightdress was made by the donor's grandmother, Sarah Blanche Freeman, née Ward. The nightdress was made from sheets, with feather stitching and broderie anglaise as decoration. It was made as a burial nightdress. It is not known where the nightdress was made, but Mrs Freeman was known to have been born in Carbrooke, Norfolk, in 1858 and to have lived in Kennington, London, and Edinburgh, where she died in 1944.

Letter, Kathleen Winter to Will Phillips, 16 April 2007 – '... I am pleased that you are willing to accept my grandmother's nightdress for your collection, very pleased. // If you can bear a little more back-ground, here goes:- // Granny had quite an interesting life. She came to London in her late 30s, at the same time as her husband, to be, came to London from Crabbs Cross, near Redditch. [He was a widower with two children by the time he was 19 yrs!] // He was a master carpenter and furniture maker... // They met on a London bus, when he accidentally trod on her long skirt + as she moved away the dress tore at the waist - romance followed! // Whilst their children were growing up she ran a commercial boarding house in Kennington. Her regulars being Swiss and French representatives for the silk cloth + silk ribbon industry... // I always think of my grandmother as a 'black' granny. She was quite a formidable lady, 'old' by today's standard (she lived with my parents from day one of their marriage!). // Her husband died in 1920 and she went into black and stayed thus till the end. We did manage a purple cardigan in her and WWII's later years, but only because that was all the village shop had.', Letter, Kathleen Winter to Will Phillips, 31 March 2007 – '... The nightdress was one of two my grandmother made for her burial. I can remember her making them from sheets (I thought it was a bit morbid being quite young). She did beautiful feather stitching and the embroidere anglaise may have been hand made in Ireland or taken from another garment. // My grandmother Sarah Blanche Freeman née Ward was born in the hamlet of Carbrooke near Watten in Norfolk on the 31st January 1858. She died in Edinbury in July 1944. // Her mother was a cook at Raynham Hall, her father a farm labourer...'

1944