Sophia Frances Anne Caulfeild (19 January 1824 – 20 November 1911) was a British writer and

needleworker Needlework is decorative sewing and textile arts handicrafts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework. Needlework may include related textile crafts such as crochet, worked with a hook, or tatting, worked with a ...

. She wrote about religion and needlework, and frequently worked with Blanche Catherine Saward.

Life

Caulfeild was born in

Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at th ...

in 1824 to Frances Sally Irwin and Edwin-Toby Caulfeild, son of Wade-Toby Caulfeild. Her father was from a minor branch of a noble family. Her great-grandfather was

William Caulfeild, 2nd Viscount Charlemont William Caulfeild, 2nd Viscount Charlemont (c.1655 – 21 July 1726) was an Irish soldier and peer. Life Caulfeild was the son of William Caulfeild, 1st Viscount Charlemont of County Armagh, whom he succeeded in 1671 and Sarah Moore, daughter of ...

. Her grandfather on her mother's side was the Irish poet, Eyles Irwin. She had a younger sister called Louisa Lavinia and an elder brother named Henry Cope Caulfeild. Caulfield lived in Teignmouth. In 1870 she had a book of poetry published which she dedicated to her brother Henry Cope Caulfeild. In 1882 she and Blanche Saward had their ''Dictionary of Needlework'' published. The work was available in six volumes and the full title was ''The dictionary of needlework : an encyclopaedia of artistic, plain, and fancy needlework dealing fully with the details of all the stitches employed, the method of working, the materials used, the meaning of technical terms, and, where necessary, tracing the origin and history of the various works described''.Dictionary of Needlework
archive.com, retrieved 26 October 2014 In 1887 she published ''The Lives of the Apostles, their contemporaries and successors''. Their "bible" has been described as an encyclopedia having 800 woodcut illustrations and over 528 pages. The subjects were presented in alphabetic orders and the work attempted to describe all aspects of needlework. The section on embroidery alone ran to 24 pages. This work was aimed at the fashion for needlework and it competed with

Thérèse de Dillmont Thérèse de Dillmont (10 October 1846 – 22 May 1890) was an Austrian needleworker and writer. Dillmont's ''Encyclopedia of Needlework'' (1886) has been translated into 17 languages. She owned a string of shops in European capitals and she was ...

''Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework'' published in 1884 and ''Weldon's Practical Needlework'' which was published in monthly parts from 1886. Writers of these vast works were assisted by the copyright law which allowed writers to freely borrow material from periodicals. Caulfeild died in Kensington in 1911.Sophia Caulfeild
Librarything, retrieved 16 October 2014

Works

*The Dictionary of Needlework (with Blanche C. Saward) *Encyclopedia of Victorian Needlework, Vol. II *Encyclopedia of Victorian Needlework, Vol. I *The Lives of the Apostles, their contemporaries and successors *True philosophy : a reply to certain statements made in "Scientific *The dawn of Christianity in Continental Europe and the planting of the… *Desmond and other poems

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caulfeild, Sophia Frances Anne 1824 births 1911 deaths 19th-century English women writers 19th-century British writers English encyclopedists English religious writers Needlework People from Teignmouth Victorian poets Victorian women writers Victorian writers Women encyclopedists Women religious writers