Rehabilitation Embroidery
Rehabilitation Embroidery
Rehabilitation Embroidery
Private Richard George Williams enlisted in the First World War under the 3/5th London Field Ambulance as a part of the band in 1915. Just a year later he was discharged with a diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Alongside 55,000 other service-members during WWI, he returned home suffering from TB, a disease quickly spread in the cramped and unsanitary conditions of the battlefield. With no effective treatment against the disease, Williams, like many others, lay and recovered in hospital until he was well enough to return home. During this time in hospital, Williams learned an unexpected skill, leading to an interesting object entering the collections of the Museum of Military Medicine.
Earlier last year, the museum was generously gifted a beautiful embroidery piece in the shape of a belt, decorated with a 3/5th London Field Ambulance motif. This embroidered piece was carefully crafted by Williams himself.
As Williams lay in his hospital bed, too weak to partake in many activities, he instead learned the craft of needleworking alongside other men injured both physically and mentally in battle. Practising needlework allowed these injured soldiers to busy themselves with a meditative, stationary task that both calmed the mind and passed the time in hospital. Soldiers who returned ‘shell shocked’, a term describing a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder relating to the war, benefited from the calm distraction of embroidery. In addition to helping the mind, embroidery was also rehabilitative as it helped to improve hand dexterity and fine motor skills through careful, repetitive movements. While not officially named so, the activity is a kind of early occupational therapy. Even today, hospitals use crafting to help treat patients with mental and physical illnesses.
The benefits of embroidery continued further, allowing men to profit financially from their craftsmanship. Disabled veterans could enhance their pensions by selling embroidered works. Several hospital groups and charities even facilitated the sale of these carefully crafted embroidery pieces, giving the proceeds back to the veterans, easing the return back to a civilian working life.
The embroidered belt and other needlework in the collection are interesting in both their appearance and rehabilitative benefits, but also as an activity that blurred expected occupations of the time. Widely seen as women’s work, needlework was taken up by veterans across the world from England to Australia, challenging the narrative of embroidery being a task for only women to take up.
Look through some of the embroidered pieces the Museum of Military Medicine holds in its collection. Aside from Williams’s belt, the collection originates from unknown soldiers who recovered in the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley during and after the First World War. The pieces, some of them unfinished, show remarkable skills of craftsmanship and creativity, depicting various patterns and scenes. Some clearly gifts to loved ones, some dedication to country, and others simply works of art, rehabilitation embroidery shows the journey of soldiers in their recovery.
Rehabilitation Embroidery
Rehabilitation Embroidery
Private Richard George Williams enlisted in the First World War under the 3/5th London Field Ambulance as a part of the band in 1915. Just a year later he was discharged with a diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Alongside 55,000 other service-members during WWI, he returned home suffering from TB, a disease quickly spread in the cramped and unsanitary conditions of the battlefield. With no effective treatment against the disease, Williams, like many others, lay and recovered in hospital until he was well enough to return home. During this time in hospital, Williams learned an unexpected skill, leading to an interesting object entering the collections of the Museum of Military Medicine.
Earlier last year, the museum was generously gifted a beautiful embroidery piece in the shape of a belt, decorated with a 3/5th London Field Ambulance motif. This embroidered piece was carefully crafted by Williams himself.
As Williams lay in his hospital bed, too weak to partake in many activities, he instead learned the craft of needleworking alongside other men injured both physically and mentally in battle. Practising needlework allowed these injured soldiers to busy themselves with a meditative, stationary task that both calmed the mind and passed the time in hospital. Soldiers who returned ‘shell shocked’, a term describing a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder relating to the war, benefited from the calm distraction of embroidery. In addition to helping the mind, embroidery was also rehabilitative as it helped to improve hand dexterity and fine motor skills through careful, repetitive movements. While not officially named so, the activity is a kind of early occupational therapy. Even today, hospitals use crafting to help treat patients with mental and physical illnesses.
The benefits of embroidery continued further, allowing men to profit financially from their craftsmanship. Disabled veterans could enhance their pensions by selling embroidered works. Several hospital groups and charities even facilitated the sale of these carefully crafted embroidery pieces, giving the proceeds back to the veterans, easing the return back to a civilian working life.
The embroidered belt and other needlework in the collection are interesting in both their appearance and rehabilitative benefits, but also as an activity that blurred expected occupations of the time. Widely seen as women’s work, needlework was taken up by veterans across the world from England to Australia, challenging the narrative of embroidery being a task for only women to take up.
Look through some of the embroidered pieces the Museum of Military Medicine holds in its collection. Aside from Williams’s belt, the collection originates from unknown soldiers who recovered in the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley during and after the First World War. The pieces, some of them unfinished, show remarkable skills of craftsmanship and creativity, depicting various patterns and scenes. Some clearly gifts to loved ones, some dedication to country, and others simply works of art, rehabilitation embroidery shows the journey of soldiers in their recovery.
Rehabilitation Embroidery
