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Maroon, velvet, drawstring bag originally made to hold the Ashes Urn.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.