Textile sample, printed cotton fabric, traded by The United Africa Company Ltd., Manchester, England, 1937.

Given by the Public Record Office

This numbered fabric sample comes from a large group of designs that were registered individually by manufacturers between 1914 and 1946 at the Manchester Design Registry. The collection was given to the V&A by the Public Record Office in 1960 after the closure of the Manchester Design Registry. Samples have been formally accessioned by the V&A gradually since 1966. The remaining textiles were formally acquired in 2021. The Manchester Design Registry textiles are duplicates of samples held in the Board of Trade Design Register at The National Archives, and by consulting the registration details there, it has been possible to date and identify the manufacturers of these designs.

The United Africa Company is one of several companies - principally British or Dutch - who in the early 20th century designed, printed, exported and/or distributed factory-printed cotton textiles for the West African market. Merchant traders such as UAC acted as middlemen between European manufacturers and West African consumers, bridging the geographical and cultural gap that separated them through their use of market knowledge, which ultimately influenced the design and distribution of such textiles.

T.1950-2021