Design (2)

The design comes from a group of designs that were part of a retailer's archive which employed professional embroiderers. The names of the female clients inscribed on the designs were of the aristocracy. Miss Emily Pelham gave her sister's (Lady Middleton's) pattern to a family friend, Miss Holroyd. The Pelhams and Holroyds had country homes in what is now Surrey and East Sussex respectively and so not far away. The families came to London for the season. Lady Middleton (who was Frances Pelham) died in 1783 and so five years later Emily gave her sister's design to her friend. Retailers who sold such designs were linen drapers and lacemakers, both of which categories existed in London and were available to the clients. Many pattern drawers worked in London where their trade proved a lucrative business during the season. The similarity of some of the designs from this group to those by Styart, whose designs were published in London, does support the argument that these designs came from a retailer's archive based in London.