Accession Number

2009.021.008

Description

One patched and rust-stained white cotton bedsheet, the top over-flap with a cut-away design around the edging and in its centre an embroidered monogram 'JLD'.

Narrative

This bed sheet held special meaning to successive generations of the Dunsmuir family until it was sold to The Castle Society by a Dunsmuir descendant in 2009.

History of Use

This bedsheet ​​was inherited by the vendor from her mother’s sister, born Elizabeth Mary Bromley (nee 1919-2006) who first married Sir Richard Algernon Frederick Hanbury-Tracy, 6th Baron Sudeley of Toddington – AKA “Tiger”, and after his death, Major Sir Arthur James Robert Collins. Elizabeth Mary Bromley was the daughter of Laura Mary (aka “Maye”) Dunsmuir and Sir Arthur Bromley. The bedsheet is part of a larger accession. Some of the items had formerly been the property of Elizabeth’s sister, Victoria Bromley (aka “Mouse”), and bequeathed to Elizabeth by "Mouse".

According to the vendor, this bedsheet was kept by her aunt Elizabeth together with other Dunsmuir objects in a single trunk at her house, Kirkman Bank, the ancestral home of her husband's family in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.

The monogrammed bed sheet reads “JLD” for James and Laura Dunsmuir which might mean it was made around the time of their 1876 marriage. It was probably used at their Wellington and Departure Bay houses, at Burleith, and finally at Hatley Park. Sometime in the 20th Century the bedsheet was taken to England where it remained until it was purchased by The Castle Society in 2009.

Date

circa 1876

Dimensions

303 x 152 cm

Material

Fabric, cotton

Technique

Embroidered

Country of Origin

Canada