Thomas Stevens (1828–1888) was a 19th-century weaver from

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, famous for his invention of the

stevengraph Stevengraphs are pictures woven from silk, originally created by Thomas Stevens in the 19th century. They were popular collectable items again during the revival of interest in Victoriana in the 1960s and 1970s. Detail In the mid-19th century t ...

, a woven

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

picture.

Biography

In the 19th century the town of

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, was the centre of a

ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mater ...

weaving industry. Thomas Stevens was born in

Foleshill Foleshill is a suburb in the north of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. Longford, Courthouse Green and Rowley Green are to its north and Keresley is to its west. The population of the Ward at the 2011 census was 19,943. History Folesh ...

, just to the north of Coventry, in 1828 to a relatively poor family.Lynes, (n.d.). Stevens worked for Pears and Franklin, a local ribbon weavers in Coventry, and by 1854 had created his own ribbon firm. In 1860, however, the

Cobden–Chevalier Treaty The Cobden–Chevalier Treaty was an Anglo-French free trade agreement signed between Great Britain and France on 23 January 1860. After Britain began free trade policies in 1846, there remained tariffs with France. The 1860 treaty ended tariffs o ...

was signed; this

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

treaty introduced new competition into the industry, leading to a collapse in the local ribbon economy and a huge loss of employment in Coventry.
Stevengraphs - What are they?
', Stevengraph Collectors Association, accessed 4 October 2011. Stevens had considerable experience of experimenting with the

Jacquard loom The Jacquard machine () is a device fitted to a loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé. The resulting ensemble of the loom and Jacquard machine is then called a Ja ...

and responded to the local recession by trying to develop new products. He had invented a way of using the programmable loom to weave colourful pictures from silk. By 1862, Stevens could produce four different designs; he attempted to appeal to the mass market, selling his products between six pence and fifteen shillings each.
Stevengraphs - What are they?
', Stevengraph Collectors Association, accessed 4 October 2011; Lynes, (n.d.). Some of these pictures were used for

bookmark A bookmark is a thin marking tool, commonly made of card, leather, or fabric, used to keep track of a reader's progress in a book and allow the reader to easily return to where the previous reading session ended. Alternate materials for book ...

greetings card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...

s and specialised products for the

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. Business boomed and Stevens acquired two larger factories in turn; by 1875 he was calling his product the "Stevengraph", named after himself. He exhibited internationally in America, France and Holland, winning some 30 medals and diplomas. In 1878 Stevens moved to London and began to mount his Stevengraphs as framed pictures - by the late 1880s Stevens had over 900 different designs. In 1888 Stevens died following a throat operation and was buried in Coventry.

Legacy

By the 1930s, Stevengraphs were considered collectable items, but the hobby was considered eccentric and mainly confined to female collectors. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Coventry was attacked by

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bombers; on 14 November 1940 the

Coventry Blitz The Coventry Blitz (blitz: from the German word ''Blitzkrieg'' meaning "lightning war" ) or Coventration of the city was a series of bombing raids that took place on the British city of Coventry. The city was bombed many times during the Seco ...

occurred, apparently destroying the Stevens factory and the records of the Stevengraphs. In the late 1950s it emerged that Henry Stephens, a descendant of Thomas, had saved one of the pattern books the night before the attack and kept it in safe storage; Henry donated it to the

Coventry City Council Coventry City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Coventry in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. The city is divided up into 18 Wards each with three councillors. Coventry ...

, who in turn entrusted it with the

Herbert Art Gallery and Museum Herbert Art Gallery & Museum (also known as the Herbert) is a museum, art gallery, records archive, learning centre, media studio and creative arts facility on Jordan Well, Coventry, England. Overview The museum is named after Sir Alfred Herb ...

. Stevengraphs became valuable, with more male collectors entering the hobby.Wollen, pp.68-69. Prices rose, particularly for unusual or rarer images less popular during the Victorian period. A large collection of Stevens' work from his pattern book is still held at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.

References

Bibliography

*Lynes, Alice. (n.d.) ''Thomas Stevens And His Silk Ribbon Pictures.'' Local History Pamphlet No.2. Coventry: Coventry City Libraries. *Wollen, Peter. (2004)
Paris/Manhattan: Writings on Art.
' London: Verso. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Thomas People from Coventry 1828 births 1888 deaths British weavers