Embroiderers' Guild

The Embroiderers' Guild is the UK's leading educational charity promoting embroidery.

History

The guild was formed in September 1906 at a meeting of sixteen ex-students of the Royal School of Art Needlework, under the name The Society of Certificated Embroideresses of the Royal School of Art Needlework. Miss Wade, head of the Royal School of Art Needlework was invited to be founder President, and Miss Scott who hosted the inaugural meeting and Beatrice Paulson Townsend, wife of W.G. Paulson Townsend, design master at the school, were invited to be vice-chairs. They separated during World War I but reunited after the war and began teaching embroidery to shell shocked and disabled servicemen as a form of occupational therapy.

In 1920 Louisa Frances Persel (1870-1947) was appointed as the first President. By the time of World War II the guild was well established and continued to promote the therapeutic value of embroidery.

From its centre in Walton-on-Thames, and around the UK and in the Republic of Ireland, the Guild works to celebrate and preserve embroidery's rich heritage, and to secure its living future as contemporary art and craft. The produces the Embroidery Journal.