Petworth Cottage Museum
The First Twenty Years
In 2016 we were able to stage an exhibition to celebrate twenty years of the museum. Extracted from the Petworth Society's scrapbooks of cuttings, the pictures and transcripts collected here occupied three sides of the exhibition hall. Five years on we cannot stage another physical exhibition but we can show these cuttings here. Unless otherwise stated the cuttings are all from the Midhurst & Petworth Observer. Click on the pictures to enlarge.
21 Talk
illustrates the link between cottage museum
and needlework 5th
October 2006
As part of a 'mini-petworth Festival' marking the tenth anniversary of Petworth Cottage Museum, Dr. Lynn Hulse spoke to the Petworth Society about Percy and Madeline Wyndham and their involvement with the Royal School of Art Needlework, founded in 1872. The link between needlework and the museum was clear - Mrs. Cummings, the Petworth House seamstress, had lived in the cottage, 346 High Street now, as it was in 1910. Society chairman Peter Jerrome paid tribute to the stewards, especially the late Jacqueline Golden, who is sadly missed. On the pervious Friday, Lars Tharp, from the Antiques Roadshow, had spoken about the art of ceramics over 5,000 years and the now Royal School of Needlework (RSN) was displaying embroidery in Petworth House. Dr. Hulse is archivist of the RSN, with 30,000 designs to catalogue as well as hundreds of books and photographs. Percy Wyndham was a son of the 1st Baron Leconfield, who was himself the great-great uncle of the current Lord Egremont. Inspired by the work of William Morris, the School of Art Needlework was founded to provide employment for 20 'young ladies of the impoverished genteel class'. From the outset, the Wyndhams' connections with influential people and personalities in the Arts and Crafts Movement, such as G.F.Watts, Edward Burn[e]-Jones and Morris himself, were instrumental in the school's development. Although the talk was illustrated with fine slides, it became clear that the detail, subtle colours and minute stitching could be appreciated only by seeing the actual articles. In this respect, the audience was left wanting more - to be satisfied at the exhibition.
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