William Briggs & Co. Ltd
A British needlework manufacturer known for its Penelope embroidery patterns, haberdashery, yarns, and craft kits.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
William Briggs & Co. Ltd was a British manufacturer of art needlework materials, embroidery patterns, haberdashery, and yarns. Although the company was incorporated in Manchester in 1895, its commercial origins reached back to William Briggs’s work in the 1870s, when he adapted a patented heat-transfer process for reproducing embroidery designs. The business became associated with the Penelope name, which was registered as a brand in 1886 and was used for needlework patterns, wools, and related haberdashery. Penelope became the company’s principal commercial identity and was an important factor in its growth. Briggs operated during a period when embroidery and decorative needlework were expanding as both domestic crafts and organized forms of artistic production. Its products helped consumers transfer designs onto fabric and complete decorative work using supplied threads, yarns, instructions, and kits. The company also supported the craft through publishing. It issued the Needlewoman and Needlecraft Journal and produced books including Traditional Embroidery and Jacobean Crewelwork, the latter associated with the authorial name Penelope and created with Lady Smith-Dorrien. Through these products, the business combined manufacturing, branded retail goods, technical instruction, and specialist publishing. The company’s early history included a dispute with Deighton’s concerning copyright and the priority of embroidery-transfer designs. William Deighton of London argued that his transfers predated the Briggs patent, illustrating the competitive and legally uncertain character of this emerging product category. Despite the dispute, Briggs developed into one of the largest manufacturers of art needlework in the world. William Briggs died in 1922. His sons Frank, William, and Charles were involved in the family enterprise, maintaining its family-business character during the interwar period. In 1939, William Briggs & Co. joined with J & P Coats Ltd, a major thread manufacturer based in Paisley. The relationship gave Briggs access to the resources and distribution network of a larger textile group while allowing the Briggs name and Penelope products to continue. During the Second World War, the company supplied specially licensed Penelope Needlecraft for H.M. Forces kits. The Board of Trade authorized these kits for use as occupational therapy for injured service personnel recovering in hospitals. Each kit contained instructions, fabric bearing a stencilled design, stranded threads, and a packet or envelope featuring a colour image of the completed work. Surviving examples are held by museum collections, including the Imperial War Museum and the Paisley Thread Mill Museum. After the war, Briggs continued to make and sell yarns and embroidery kits. J & P Coats held a controlling share by the 1960s and continued using the William Briggs name after Frank Briggs, who headed the business, died in 1963. In the 1970s, Briggs acquired its former rival Deighton’s. Its embroidery kits remained popular during the 1970s and 1980s, but the company is now regarded as defunct as an independent historical business. Its legacy survives through surviving Penelope-branded materials, needlework publications, museum holdings, and collection records documenting the development of commercial embroidery supplies.
History
William Briggs & Co. Ltd developed from the nineteenth-century expansion of commercial embroidery and art needlework. William Briggs, a woollen merchant who later became a fancy-goods manufacturer, entered the design-transfer business after a patent application for heat-transfer patterns was made in 1874 by his brother John Briggs and Henry Grimshaw. William used the process to reproduce embroidery designs for customers and established Mrs Bidder, Art Needlework Specialist, as a shop for selling the resulting products. The early business focused on transferring printed or otherwise prepared designs onto fabric so that customers could execute embroidery with greater consistency. By the early 1880s, the company was publishing material identified as Briggs & Co. Patent Transferring Papers. The technology also led to a legal dispute with Deighton’s. William Deighton of London testified that his own transfers predated the Briggs patent, placing the company within a competitive field in which the ownership and originality of design-transfer methods were contested. The Penelope name became central to the company’s identity. Registered in 1886, it covered haberdashery and wools as well as needlework-related goods. The brand helped Briggs move beyond an individual transfer product into a broader craft range and was identified as a major reason for the company’s commercial success. William Briggs & Co. Ltd was formally incorporated in 1895 and operated from Manchester. It later became one of the largest, and according to historical accounts the largest, manufacturers of art needlework in the world. Briggs combined manufacturing with specialist publishing. The company issued Needlewoman and Needlecraft Journal, providing a channel for patterns, instruction, and craft culture. It also published Traditional Embroidery and Jacobean Crewelwork, associated with Penelope and produced with Lady Smith-Dorrien. These publications complemented the company’s physical goods by teaching techniques, presenting designs, and encouraging continued use of its threads, wools, patterns, and kits. William Briggs died in 1922, but the business remained connected to his family. His sons Frank, William, and Charles all worked in the enterprise. In 1939, the company joined J & P Coats Ltd, the Paisley-based thread manufacturer. This combination linked Briggs’s branded needlework products to a much larger textile-related organization. During the Second World War, the company continued to produce and sell yarns and embroidery kits. A particularly documented wartime line was Penelope Needlecraft for H.M. Forces. The Board of Trade licensed the kits for occupational therapy for injured service personnel recovering in hospitals. They were packaged with instructions, fabric marked with a stencilled design, stranded threads, and a colour illustration of the completed project. Institutional collections, including the Imperial War Museum and the Paisley Thread Mill Museum, preserve examples. The post-war company continued to use the Penelope identity and to sell embroidery materials. By 1963, J & P Coats had a controlling share. Frank Briggs died that year, and Coats continued to use the William Briggs name. During the 1970s, Briggs absorbed Deighton’s, the rival involved in the earlier transfer-pattern dispute. Embroidery kits bearing the Briggs and Penelope associations remained popular through the 1970s and 1980s. The company is now defunct as an independent operating brand, but its products and publications remain relevant to the history of British needlework manufacturing, domestic craft education, and the commercialization of embroidery design.
- 1970
Approximate decade of Deighton’s takeover
[1]During the 1970s, Briggs took over former rival Deighton’s.
- 1963
J & P Coats continued the Briggs name
[1]Following Frank Briggs’s death, J & P Coats, which held a controlling share, continued to use the William Briggs name.
- 1939
Combination with J & P Coats
[1]William Briggs & Co. joined J & P Coats Ltd, a major Paisley-based thread manufacturer.
- 1922
Death of William Briggs
[1]William Briggs died, after which his sons Frank, William, and Charles continued working in the family business.
- 1895
Company incorporated in Manchester
[1]William Briggs & Co. Ltd was formally incorporated and based its operations in Manchester.
- 1886
Penelope trademark registered
[1]The Penelope name was registered for products including haberdashery and wools and became the company’s principal brand.
- 1874
Heat-transfer pattern patent application
[1]John Briggs and Henry Grimshaw applied for a patent relating to heat-transfer patterns, a process later used by William Briggs for embroidery designs.
Products and positioning
A specialist maker and publisher for domestic and artistic needlework, combining branded transfer patterns, yarns, haberdashery, instructional publications, and ready-to-use embroidery kits.
Needlework brand · 1886
Penelope
Penelope was William Briggs & Co.’s principal brand, registered in 1886. It covered a broad range of needlework-related goods, including embroidery patterns, haberdashery, wools, yarns, and craft kits. The brand’s breadth allowed Briggs to serve both consumers undertaking individual projects and retailers selling specialist textile-craft supplies.
Embroidery transfer patterns
Briggs & Co. Patent Transferring Papers
These papers were designed to transfer embroidery patterns onto fabric. The product represented the company’s early use of heat-transfer technology and helped make prepared decorative designs available to home embroiderers. The line was documented in an early-1880s publication and became part of the legal dispute with Deighton’s over the priority of transfer designs.
Embroidery kits
Penelope embroidery kits
Briggs sold ready-to-use embroidery kits under the Penelope identity. The kits combined prepared designs or stencilled fabric with threads, yarns, and instructions, reducing the need for customers to assemble materials separately. They remained commercially popular during the 1970s and 1980s.
Therapeutic needlecraft kits
Penelope Needlecraft for H.M. Forces
These wartime kits were licensed by the Board of Trade for occupational therapy among injured service personnel recovering in hospitals. A typical kit included instructions, fabric with a stencilled design, stranded threads, and packaging with a colour illustration of the finished piece.
Craft periodicals
Needlewoman and Needlecraft Journal
The company published specialist needlework journals that supported its product business by providing patterns, instruction, and editorial material for embroidery and related textile crafts.
Needlework book
Traditional Embroidery
Traditional Embroidery was one of the company’s specialist publications, extending Briggs’s role from supplying materials into documenting and teaching embroidery practices.
Needlework book
Jacobean Crewelwork
Jacobean Crewelwork was published under the Penelope association and created with Lady Smith-Dorrien. It focused on a historically rooted embroidery tradition and complemented the company’s patterns, threads, and kits.
Marketing campaigns
- Penelope Needlecraft for H.M. Forces
United Kingdom
During the Second World War and its aftermath, William Briggs & Co. supplied Board of Trade-licensed needlecraft kits for injured service personnel receiving hospital care. The kits were positioned as occupational therapy rather than ordinary retail craft products.
Outcome. The kits were distributed for therapeutic use, and surviving examples are held by the Imperial War Museum and the Paisley Thread Mill Museum.
Brand decisions
1970
Takeover of Deighton’sM&ABackground
Deighton’s had been an earlier competitor in embroidery-transfer products and had been involved in a historical copyright dispute with Briggs.
Action taken
Briggs took over the former rival during the 1970s.
Aftermath
Briggs’s embroidery kits continued to be sold and remained popular through the 1970s and 1980s.
1963
Continuation of the Briggs name after Frank Briggs’s deathOtherBackground
Frank Briggs, the company’s head, died while J & P Coats held a controlling share.
Action taken
J & P Coats continued operating and branding the business under the William Briggs name.
Aftermath
The brand remained connected to Coats-controlled needlework products, including yarns and embroidery kits.
1939
Join J & P Coats LtdM&ABackground
The specialist needlework manufacturer entered a combination with J & P Coats, a large thread producer based in Paisley.
Action taken
The Briggs business joined the Coats organization while retaining its own name and product identity.
Aftermath
J & P Coats later held a controlling share and continued to use the William Briggs name after Frank Briggs’s death.
Sources1 sources
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