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Helen - Maltese Cross

Demi-Quad Helen 
with Maltese Cross
Needle Case


UK Patent 1869-2998 drawing

Design Details

Needle Case Type:

Demi-Quad

Patent/Registered to:

William Avery, Redditch Manufacturer and Albert Fenton of the same place, Machinist

Patent/Design Representation #:

Mechanical Patent: #2998

Patent/Design Registration Date:

October 14, 1869

Location of Patent/Design Registration:

British Library - Business and Intellectual Property Centre – London

Reference #:

1869-2998, Figure 1

Dimensions:

2.2 x 4.6

Material:

Brass
Nickel-silver

Name Variations:

a) W. Avery & Son - Redditch
b) Cook-Son & Co - London (the sole source of this information is Horowitz and Mann as no example of this needle case with this company name has been seen by the authors of this website)
c) Thomas Harper - Reddtich
d) H. Milward & Sons - Redditch

Other Variations:

See other Demi-Quads

US Patent

US 1870-102471

Additional Photographs

With Harper signature detail and with Avery signature detail (photo courtesty of Lynda Herrod)

Nickel-silver version (photos courtesy of the Winterthur Museum Collection)

With Milward signature detail (photo courtesy of Catherine Colyer)

Facts

 facts

This needle case may have been named after Queen Victoria’s daughter Helena who was born in Buckingham palace in 1846.  Helena was fifteen years old when her father, Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, died in 1861.  Five years later in 1866, at age twenty, she married her third cousin Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, who was fifteen years her senior.  Although this marriage was approved by Queen Victoria it was considered by many to be politically awkward.  The territories of Schleswig and Holstein were involved in a bitter dispute between Denmark and Prussia (part of Germany) and since most of the British royal family’s relations were German, the Queen needed to take their views into consideration.

 facts

History

Helena and Prince Christian had six children: Christian (1867), Albert (1869), Helena (1870), Marie (1872) and two sons that died shortly after or during childbirth.  When they celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1916, at the height of World War I, they received congratulations from both of Helena’s nephews King George V of Britain and Kaiser Wilhelm II from Germany.  A year later her husband died and that same year George V changed the royal families surname from Saxe-Coberg and Gotha to Windsor because of the anti-Germany feelings in the UK at the time.  Princess Helena died seven years later in 1923.

 history

Miscellaneous

Helena’s interest in needlework lead to her becoming the first president of the School of Art Needlework in 1872 which by 1876 became the Royal School of Needlework.  The organization’s founding principles were two-fold: “to revive a beautiful art which had fallen into disuse and, through its revival, to provide employment for educated women who, without a suitable livelihood, would otherwise find themselves compelled to live in poverty.”  Princess Helena was involved in many of the organizations fundraising activities which helped transformation it from a group that employed 20 ladies in a small room above a bonnet shop to an establishment that had its own building in 1903 and roughly 150 workers at its peak.  More information about the organization can be found by visiting the Royal School of Needlework website.

 misc