Threading the needle: when embroidery was used to treat shell-shock

Correspondence to Professor Jonathan Davidson; [email protected]

Introduction

The use of embroidery to provide comfort for victims of trauma goes back several hundred years. An early example is provided by Mary, Queen of Scots, who found “great solace” in prolonged captivity as she dealt with what her doctors called “grief of the spleen” (or  obstructio splenis cum flatu hypochondriaco).¹ Later applications of needlework included its use in the military context for a variety of purposes, mostly in the form of embroidered badges as symbols of admired qualities like loyalty, courage, ferocity and strength, or to denote membership of   a particular unit.   The design and use of such badges is often subject to strict regulation. Less well known is the therapeutic application of embroidery to survivors of combat trauma. What follows is a historical account of this practice, with emphasis on World War I and a consideration of its place in current practice.

World War I

The merits of occupational therapy, including embroidery, for shell-shocked survivors of combat were described by Williamson in 1917,² and it was later reported to thwart ‘melancholy’.³ Among the first to advocate for, and teach, embroidery for shell-shock was Louisa Pesel (1870–1947), an internationally known pioneer in the use of needlework.⁴ After a term as director of the Royal Hellenic School of Needlework in Athens, Pesel returned to her home town of Bradford, where in conjunction with the Abram Peel Neuropsychiatric Hospital, she taught embroidery to soldiers returning home from action at the front. Pesel favoured Greek and Middle Eastern motifs in her designs. A well-known example of the work of these soldiers is the altar frontal, originally made for use during worship in the Abram Peel Hospital and now part of the Bradford Cathedral collection (Figure 1). Subsequently, Pesel moved to Winchester where she led a team in the creation of over 500 kneelers, stall cushions and alms bags, many of which are still in use. Pesel was a prolific author and lecturer, and her influence was considerable.

The stage and film actor, Ernest Thesiger (1879–1961), himself a wounded War War I veteran, was an ardent embroiderer and saw its potential as a form of therapy and source of income for disabled veterans. Thesiger favoured Queen...