Brooch
2003/8950
1900-1950 / Jewellery / Metal / Metalwork / Stone / World Parish
Gemstones and metal
c. 1950
This small diamond and Burmese sapphire brooch in the form of the letter ‘W’ stands for ‘Women’s Work'.
The stones in uncut form were given as a thank you and retirement present to Mrs Harold Crawford Walters, wife of a Methodist missionary in Burma (now Myanmar), in 1930. She had participated very actively in his work. After her death, Mr Crawford Walters' second wife had the stones cut and set in a brooch in the form of a 'W'. She then donated the brooch as a badge of office for the President of the North Lancashire District of the Methodist Missionary Society ' Women’s Work'.
The Methodist Missionary Society 'Women’s Work' trained, equipped and financed the sending of women missionaries overseas. Although not without ethical issues from today's perspective, the society empowered women at a time when it was still expected that most women would become housewives and mothers.
c. 1950
This small diamond and Burmese sapphire brooch in the form of the letter ‘W’ stands for ‘Women’s Work'.
The stones in uncut form were given as a thank you and retirement present to Mrs Harold Crawford Walters, wife of a Methodist missionary in Burma (now Myanmar), in 1930. She had participated very actively in his work. After her death, Mr Crawford Walters' second wife had the stones cut and set in a brooch in the form of a 'W'. She then donated the brooch as a badge of office for the President of the North Lancashire District of the Methodist Missionary Society ' Women’s Work'.
The Methodist Missionary Society 'Women’s Work' trained, equipped and financed the sending of women missionaries overseas. Although not without ethical issues from today's perspective, the society empowered women at a time when it was still expected that most women would become housewives and mothers.
