Armagh County Museum : Collections : Recent Acquisitions : Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland

Recent Acquisitions

Jones’ sewing machine

The staff of the Museum were contacted recently by Dr Margaret Patton of Portadown who offered to donate a Jones hand-turned sewing machine to the collection. This donation seemed to tie in very well with our recent patchwork exhibition entitled Ancient Ireland comes of age. We went to see Dr Patton and her husband and were delighted to accept a Cylinder Shuttle sewing machine made by the Jones’ Sewing Machine Company, at Guide Bridge, near Manchester.

The machine is hand-turned and the Museum did not have an example in the collection. Dr Patton, who was originally from Kent, bought the sewing machine during the Second World War, in order to make some clothes for herself when "coupons were scarce". She bought it at a church sale and continued to use it until about 1968-70, when she purchased an electric sewing machine.

The sewing machine which is still in working order, came complete with foot attachments, a spare cylindrical bobbin and the original instruction manual! It is beautifully decorated with red and gold foliage and is marked "As supplied to Her Majesty Queen Alexandra, Jones’ Family C.S" (cylinder shuttle). Queen Alexandra was Queen Consort of King Edward VII who took the oath of sovereignty the day after Queen Victoria’s death on 22 January 1901. King Edward VII died in 1910, and so, the machine must have been made between 1901-1910. The Jones Sewing Machine Company was formed by William Jones in 1870.

ARMAGH COUNTYMUSEUM

Recent Acquisitions

ARMAGH COUNTY
MUSEUM