The Wemyss School of Needlework was founded in 1877 by Dora Wemyss to teach a skill to local girls to enable them to earn a living. Today, the school still operates in its purpose-built building at Coaltown of Wemyss in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and includes a museum and archive.

History

The school was founded by Dora Wemyss in 1877. She was a wealthy philanthropist, and the great granddaughter of William IV and his mistress Dora Jordan. The school was based on the

Royal School of Needlework The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is a hand embroidery school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1872 and based at Hampton Court Palace since 1987. History The RSN began as the School of Art Needlework in 1872, founded by Lady Victoria Welby ...

in London, but from a philanthropic standpoint. It was intended to teach local girls a skill to earn a living, with them being offered a six month apprenticeship. Those who were particularly skilled could stay on at the school as employees. Their exquisite work made them very sought after, and gave them a rare independence from fathers or husbands. It was originally based in

Wemyss Castle Wemyss Castle (pronounced eems is situated in Wemyss on the sea cliffs between the villages of East Wemyss and West Wemyss in Fife, Scotland. Wemyss Castle is considered to be a multi-period building, and today's castle includes many elements ...

, and moved in 1880 to a purpose-built house on the main street of Coaltown of Wemyss.

Museum and archive

The Wemyss School of Needlework is home to a private museum and archive housing an important Scottish collection. The collection includes hundreds of samples (some dating back to Jacobean times), tissue tracings, class registers, order books and price lists. Although the building has remained open since 1880, it fell into disrepair over time and the collection had to be temporarily moved to

West Wemyss West Wemyss () is a village lying on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, in Fife, Scotland.Lamont-Brown ''Fife in History and Legend'' pp.151–152. According to the 2007 population estimate, the village has a population of 237. The villa ...

while the building was renovated in 2011. In 2016, for the first time since 1936, an exhibition of the Wemyss school works ran outside of the school building at St Andrews Museum. ''Sewing Independence: Revealing the Wemyss School of Needlework'' was curated by students at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

and explored the history and continuing legacy of the school.

Current

In the 1995 New Year Honours, the manager of the school, Mary Dorothy Birrell, was awarded the

M.B.E. Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

for services to Needlework.

References

External links

* {{Embroidery Embroidery Educational institutions established in 1877 Needlework 1877 establishments in Scotland