Margaret H. Swain (1909–2002)

Author of The Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots

14 Works 366 Members 18 Reviews

About the Author

Includes the names: Margaret Swain, Margaret Swain, Margaret Helen Swain

Image credit: Margaret H. Swain (1909-2002) In 2001, a pencil drawing of her by Elizabeth Blackadder was accepted by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, donated by her children in honour of their mother’s 90th birthday.

Works by Margaret H. Swain

Popular Recent

The Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots (1973) 130 copies

Ayrshire and Other Whitework (1982) 54 copies

Embroidered Stuart Pictures (1990) 40 copies

Historical Needlework: A Study of Influences in Scotland and Northern England (1970) 36 copies

Scottish Embroidery: Medieval to Modern (1986) 26 copies

Embroidered Georgian Pictures (1994) 23 copies

Figures on Fabric (1980) 18 copies

The Needlework at Traquair (1984) 17 copies

A Devotional Miscellany (1966) 6 copies

Tapestries and Textiles at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the Royal Collection (1988) 5 copies

The Flowerers: The Origins and History of Ayrshire Needlework (1955) 5 copies

Tapestries and Textiles at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the Royal Collection (1988) 3 copies

The Flowerers: The origins and history of Ayrshire needlework 2 copies

Loose covers, or cases (From: Furniture History Vol. XXXIII 1997) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Tagged

16th century (6) Ayrshire embroidery (9) British embroidery (4) Canvas work (4) costume (6) crafts (13) design (5) Elizabethan (4) emb (8) embroidery (68) embroidery history (10) Embroidery--Scotland--History (6) Embroidery-England-history-17th century (4) embroidery/textiles (5) England (13) Great Britain (5) historical (9) historical embroidery (4) historical textiles (4) history (21) Mary Queen of Scots (8) needlepoint (3) needlework (55) needlework history (7) non-fiction (4) OP (3) reference (3) samplers (5) Scotland (19) Shire Album 246 (4) Shire Album series (4) small (3) Stuart (4) tapestry (4) textile history (3) textiles (27) Traquair House (4) UK (4) VA (8) whitework (29)

Common Knowledge

Other names: Swain, Margaret Helen
Hart, Margaret Helen (birth name)
Birthdate: 1909-05-13
Date of death: 2002-07-27
Gender: female
Nationality: UK
Birthplace: Lancashire, England, UK
Place of death: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Places of residence: England, UK
Scotland, UK
Occupations: textile historian
author
embroiderer
Organizations: Embroiderers' Guild
Royal Scottish Museum
The Samaritans
Awards and honors: MBE (1989)
Edinburgh University, honorary MA, 1981
Short biography: Textile historian Margaret Swain was the first person to realise that Scotland was unusual in the number of private houses which still contained historic textiles. Swain documented these textiles from old family papers and bills, and brought them to scholarly attention. She made an important contribution to the study of the fine series of tapestries at the Palace of Holyrood and has published on the needlework of Mary, Queen of Scots.