Object number
M.28.2.2
Title
The Ashes Urn Bag
Date
1883 - 1883
Creator
Production notes
This bag was made by Mrs. Anne Fletcher, a friend of Lady Clarke and Florence Morphy. She was also reponsible for the date design and the lettering IVO B. It is not clear which design was for the front and which the back, but the message - Ivo Bligh carrying off the laurels of victory in 1883 - is clear.
Material
Size
21 x 18 cm
Description
Maroon, velvet, drawstring bag originally made to hold the Ashes Urn. Pale blue silk lining. Embroidered design: Gold laurel wreath surrounding ‘1883’. On reverse ‘IVO’ in gold and ‘B’ in blue.
Display caption
The story of the Ashes is as much a story of women as of cricket. Lady Clarke, during a visit to her Rupertswood home of Hon. Ivo Bligh and the gentlemen of his touring team in 1882/83, was amused by Bligh’s joke that he had come to retrieve the ashes of English cricket. Observing also his growing romance with her family governess, Florence Morphy, she presented Bligh with a small pottery urn as a token of his mission. Her friend Mrs Fletcher made this velvet bag to contain the urn.
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