Feature attraction is a machine which was given to Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter as a wedding present.The collection has been amassed by the Managing Director of the Wimbledon Sewing Machine Co Ltd, Mr Ray Rushton, over a period of 50 years and includes many rare machines amongst the 600 machines on show.
The Museum has been featured on Channel 4’s “Collectors Lot” programme and ITV’s “London Tonight”.
The Royal Connection by Graham Forsdyke (July 1997, ISMACS News)
A rare Wheeler & Wilson-type machine with royal connections is due to break records when it is sold at Christie’s in London this month. Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa (known as Vicky) was born in 1840 and 18 years later married Frederick, Crown Prince of Prussia, who was to become Kaiser Frederick III.
Their first son, born in 1859, was the future Kaiser Willhelm II. Seven other children followed.
To look after this large family an English widow, Mrs. Wakelin, was employed as head nurse with the Potsdam household from about 1862 until some time in the 1880s. In 1886 she remarried after returning to England.
Among the gifts she received from the Imperial household when she left was the Princess’s sewing machine. It had been specially made by Pollack & Schmidt at the comapny’s American Sewing Machine Factory in Hamburg.
Obviously no expense had been spared in its construction. The machine was covered with ornamental engraving under a silver gilt finish. It came with a cut glass cover with Prussian and British royal coats of arms.
The oak treadle was carved with Imperial eagles and, as a reminder of home, the stitch plate was engraved with a view of Windsor Castle. Accessory boxes and instruction manual were bound in blue velvet with gilt brass monograms. Even the ivory cotton reels were carved with a crown motif.
The Princess was said to be enthusiastic about new technology. By the time Mrs. Wakelin retired the machine would have been outdated, but it obviously made a fine present to a much loved servant who had probably used the model as part of her duties.
