Story: Sewing, knitting and textile crafts

Nineteenth-century settlers sewed on board ship to pass the time, as well as to create garments and other items to use in their new homeland. John Pearse painted James Humphries, a young, single man, sewing a wallet (a bag used to store possessions) on board the Duke of Portland bound for Canterbury in 1851. Pearse also painted other passengers sewing and knitting – all women.