WWI Signature Quilt
signatures from the front
This quilt is an exceptional piece in our collection.
It pays tribute to the memories of many courageous individuals who fought overseas during World War I, including those who lost their lives while fighting for their country and never returned home. This is the story of the quilt and those it commemorates.
Individual squares index and stories
If you are looking for a specific person's signature on the quilt, please use this index to locate the corresponding square and find additional details.
The 'Signature' Quilt
After conducting extensive research, we are confident that we have determined the creators and method behind our Signature Quilt.
Our quilt is being referred to as a signature quilt, rather than an autograph quilt. Although many organisations during the war called these types of quilts 'autograph' quilts, the names on our quilt weren't necessarily signed by those featured on the quilt. Instead, some names were provided by family members.
Many names of soldiers who died fighting overseas were included on the quilt to honour their memories, as requested by their families.
Who created it?
There has been a prolonged debate about the origin of this quilt.
It was thought to be created by a local group 'The ANZAC Club' to raise funds to send 'comfort parcels' to the men and women at the front during World War One. However, after researching the names of committee members of this club, no connections or links to the signatures on the quilt could be found.
Another local group ' the Allies Stall', formed by members of local churches also created a quilt to raise funds for the war effort, by charging sixpence to anyone who wanted to add their name to the quilt. Created by Mrs Hall of Chandler Street, Williamstown, this quilt was donated to the Williamstown Hospital at the end of the war. The description of this quilt did not match that of the one in our possession
Given we knew the quilt was donated in 1971 to the society by Miss Win Stewart, a relative of Captain Stewart Murray Hansen and that he had collected some of the signatures on the quilt at the suggestion of his mother, Mrs Agnes Hansen, the search was focussed on her connection to local organisations. Mrs Hansen was named as a committee member of the 14th Battalion Comforts Fund, her sons regiment and a possible connection.
14th Battalion Comforts Fund
This fundraising group was established in September 1916 with the authority of the Defence Department. Miss Dare, sister of Lieutenant-Colonel C.M.M. Dare, D.S.O., the commanding officer of the 14th Battalion, called a meeting of the mothers, wives and friends of the battalion and a committee was established.
Mrs Agnes Hansen, a committee member and the mother of Captain Stewart Murray Hansen of the 14th Battalion, had an idea to send blank squares of calico to her son. She asked him to collect signatures from the servicemen of the 14th Battalion, as well as from other servicemen and women he met, such as medics, nurses, doctors, members of the new Air Corps, and even cooks and stewards. These squares were then sent back home to be included on a quilt.
The connection
The last names of many committee members of the 14th Battalion Comforts Fund match those on the quilt, belonging to their sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers. At last a connection between the quilt, the servicemen named on it and the group who created it.
While there is no surviving documentation to support this conclusion, and no references in any papers of the time mentioning this group and the creation of the quilt, we have arrived at the certainty that Mrs. Hansen and the other members of her group created the quilt as a means of raising funds for their cause.
How was it made?
The quilt is constructed from 73 calico squares and measures 220cm by 169cm. It is currently mounted behind perspex, within a frame.
The ladies of the 14th Battalion Comforts Fund dedicated themselves to carefully embroidering over the top of all of the almost 1500 signatures collected, in a red cotton thread to preserve them before the squares were edged and assembled as a quilt.
Hansen family connection
We can only surmise that as Mrs Hansen was heavily involved in the creation of the quilt and her son, Stewart Murray Hansen had obtained so many of the signatures that the committee of the 14th Battalion Comforts Fund felt it should remain with her.
The quilt was eventually donated to the Williamstown Historical Society in 1971 by long-standing committee member Miss Win Stewart, a cousin of Captain Hansen.
Conservation
In 1995 the quilt was sent to the Victorian Centre for the Conservation of Cultural Material (VCCCM), where it was vacuumed to remove any surface dust and dirt. Then washed by hand, rinsed five times and then dried flat. Once the cleaning process had finished, the quilt was backed by a cheesecloth fabric, and attached by velcro.
The VCCCM recommended the quilt be kept out of direct sunlight and lights turned off when not on view.
In 2015 the quilt was framed with timber and perspex for the exhibition
'Follow the Flag' Australian Artists and War 1914-45'; held at the National Gallery of Victoria to mark the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli.
Our World War One Quilt is now over 100 years old and one of the Historical Society's treasured artefacts. It has been exhibited in several galleries over the years, due to its uniqueness in containing the signatures of many serving personnel, not just of the contributing local donors.
Signatures on the quilt
One of our volunteers Pat Klemm has painstakingly recorded all of the names embroidered on the quilt. Deciphering all the names was a mammoth task and without her efforts, trying to find the stories of the people behind the signatures would have been impossible.
Ongoing investigations are being conducted to reveal more of the stories behind the 'Signatures from the Front'.
Can you help?
Do you know the story of any individuals on our quilt?
We would like to know more about the people who signed the quilt, including their roles during the war and where they served.
Thank you for contributing any information you have using the link below.
References
Image 1 (Header): Williamstown Historical Society
Image 2: Williamstown Historical Society
Research undertaken by Jennie Moloney, Williamstown Historical Society 2023
Image 3: "An informal group portrait of Officers of the 14th Battalion, packed up, ready to leave Heliopolis", Australia War Memorial. 1915. A01219
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C999906?image=1. Access 6 Feb 2024. Left to right: Lieutenant (Lt) Bertrand Combes, Lt Hanley (probably John Gordon Theo Hanby), Lt Alan Henry, Lt George Cooper, Lt Keith George Wallace Crabbe (later killed in action 22 August 1915), Lt Graham, Lt Arthur Herbert Curwen-Walker, Captain (Capt) Henry Gerald Loughran, Lt Warren, Capt McDonald, Adjutant 16th Battalion, Capt Clive Emmerson Connelly and an unidentified orderly.
Signatures List: Deciphered and recorded by Pat Klemm, Williamstown Historical Society.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
We acknowledge the Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation as the traditional owners of these lands and waterways and pay our respect to Elders past and present.