page_title: Lorina Bulwer
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Lorina Bulwer / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Lorina Bulwer was born in 1838 in Beccles. Her father was William John Bulwer and Ann (born Turner). She was placed in a workhouse at Great Yarmouth at the age of 55 and there she created a niece of needlework. She died in 1912. This work is in Norwich Museum now
context_page_description: Lorina Bulwer was a British needleworker. She was placed in a workhouse at Great Yarmouth at the age of 55 and there she created several pieces of needlework which have been featured on BBCTV and which can now be found in the Norwich Castle Museum. The needlework are long expressionist samplers which document her anger and indignation during that time in her life.
context_section_description: The needlework that she created went into private ownership and at one time was for sale in the local market. One of Lorina's needleworks was sold in 2002 for just over £1800 when it was thought it might have been made by Rosina Bulwer Lytton about her husband. Lorina's work is now in Norwich Castle Museum where the curators refer to her work as "Lorina". The museum bought the first part of her needlework in 2004. It was later discovered that there was a similar embroidery by Bulwer in the Thackray Museum that was dated to be two years later than the first. It was possible to date the embroideries as Bulwer made references to real events like the death of a fellow inmate.
  The Dr Pinching of Walthamstow referred to in the embroideries was initially thought to be untraceable, but his story was finally uncovered in 2015 by genealogist Penelope Hemingway. Dr Pinching was involved in a court case where a man he was tending too was alleged to have torn up his will and Pinching's account was questioned. During this investigation he explained the circumstance which had happened before he resigned from the Infant Orphan Asylum in Walthamstow in 1859. He said that he had written letters to a "15 year old girl" and then he had been asked by the family to seduce her as he said he was the "family's intimate friend". No charges were brought against him when he resigned.
  Bulwer's needlework was discussed during series 36 of the Antiques Roadshow and later they were featured in a spin-off program called Antiques Roadshow Detective. Lorina and her needle-craft was the main feature of a BBC program that investigated the story behind the textiles and the artist who created them.
  A third sampler by Bulwer was discovered where it had been abandoned in an attic in County Durham. The largest piece found was two meters in length and when discovered it was identified very rapidly by an internet search for "Lorina Bulwer". This search revealed all the publicity that surrounded the re-discovery of the first two letters/samplers. The discoverers were placed in contact with Norwich museum and funding was obtained to also bring this work into the collection where it was exhibited in 2014.
caption: The text is all in uppercase and lacks any punctuation
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