Helen Murray Hoyte MBE
17.9.1923 – 9.3.2024
Co-Founder of the C&TA, author and textile expert - A tribute by her daughter Gillie Hoyte Byrom
Helen Murray Hoyte was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, the only child of Scottish parents, John Hay, a printer, and Jemimah (née Murray), a housewife. From an early age she lived with her family in Chancery Lane in central London and went to the City of London school for girls. In 1941, when she was 18, the family home was destroyed in the Blitz. She and her parents moved to Edinburgh where Helen gained a diploma at Edinburgh Art School, having excelled at textile design.
After graduating, her father insisted that she should train as a teacher and so Helen took a two year course at Moray House School of Education and Sport where she distinguished herself as top student in her year. However, she delayed teaching for a year by taking a job as a textile designer for printed textiles at the United Turkey Red Company Ltd in Balloch, next to Loch Lomond. Helen subsequently became a peripatetic art teacher in Edinburgh, visiting various schools by turn and seeing over one thousand children each month.
In 1951, after marrying Grahame Hoyte, Helen moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where Grahame worked as a tea planter. Here they initially raised my brother John and me. Returning to the UK in 1957 our family settled in North Norfolk, where Helen taught at North Walsham School for a year and then switched to Thorpe St Andrew’s School in Norwich, teaching art and textiles to A’level standard. She also taught contemporary embroidery to evening classes and loved making her own pictures well into her nineties. During her time at the school she was part of a talented staff team producing musicals and plays, making her mark as a costume designer. She later did the same voluntary work for the local Claxton Opera company for more than 20 years. Her costume design portfolios are now housed in link The Norfolk Record Office.
The years after her retirement from Thorpe St Andrews in 1985 until the age of 95 were, Helen affirmed, her best. During those years she contributed considerable energy and much determination to promoting and developing the C&TA. She was the Association’s Secretary in 1992, the Chair through the early 1990s and the joint Vice-President with Jean Smith in 1996. For many years she served as a member of the Newsletter committee as well as its Editor. Not only did she contribute articles and book reviews herself, she also provided her own original illustrations, including the front cover of the Newsletter’s Jubilee edition.
In 1997 the Norfolk Museum Service’s costume collection was transferred to Carrow House with help from the C&TA. Helen continued as a volunteer, researching under Ruth Battersby, showing keen interest and love of independent research for the rest of her life.
Helen considered the Events committee “painless fundraising”. She particularly enjoyed the costume aspect when she helped to produce fashion shows such as the Edwardian wedding at Aylsham Hall. In 2016 she obtained funding from the Worshipful Company of Dyers for a major shawl exhibition held at Norwich Cathedral and she often loaned her own collection of Norwich shawls to demonstrate style, weave and decoration.
As if all these commitments were not enough, Helen also wrote and illustrated link The Strangers of Norwich (2017), about the Dutch and Walloon weavers who helped to revive Norwich’s textile industry when they moved to the city in the Elizabethan era.
Illustration of a Norwich weaver by Helen Hoyte
In 2020 Helen sponsored a competition for textile students at the Norwich University of the Arts to design a shawl. The Helen Hoyte Award continues today.
Helen first became interested in Norwich shawls when, after retiring from art teaching, she met link Pamela Clabburn, whose family had been involved in shawl-making in Norfolk during the 19th century. In 1989 she co-founded with Pamela and others the Costume and Textile Association (C&TA) to promote interest in the costume and textile heritage of Norwich and Norfolk and to encourage research into its various facets. Pamela passed on her knowledge to Helen and they became great friends. Ten years Helen’s senior, Pamela gradually retired from giving talks. As Pamela’s successor, Helen, already an accomplished speaker, gave many illustrated talks. These were plotted with red dots on a map of Norfolk - there were no gaps! On one occasion she gave a lecture at the V&A Museum delivered in precisely the 60 minutes requested. In 1997 Helen travelled to Paisley to talk to the Scottish Textile Association. Ten years later she contributed a paper on the Norwich shawl to be read at the Textile Institute Conference in Sri Lanka. In 2018 the C&TA commissioned a film that very hot Summer. Helen can be seen in her element https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfSf2iQAYA8
An illustration from “The Story of the Norwich Shawl.”
Helen’s book The Story of the Norwich Shawl, written and beautifully illustrated by herself and published in 2010, did much to rekindle interest in a forgotten chapter in the history of Norwich. In the introduction to the book Helen wrote:
‘When I inherited a fine old Edinburgh shawl it sparked an interest and desire to see the collection of Norwich shawls kept in Stranger’s Hall Museum.’
‘Having been a textile designer, I was immediately captivated by the beauty of the designs and, as I researched the shawls, I became more amazed at the skill and craftsmanship of the old Norwich weavers and printers… My interest has since become a passion!’
Awarded an MBE in 2015 for her work in that field and services to the people of Norfolk, Helen remained active in the C&TA for the rest of her life as an honorary life president. She was also an avid collector of Norwich shawls, although her most treasured shawl, a family heirloom, was made in Edinburgh.
HELEN HOYTE VIDEOS
Helen Hoyte, MBE, Vice President of the C&TA, author and textile expert, shares her vast knowledge of Norwich shawls and textiles in excerpts from two days of filming in summer 2018. Helen’s masterclass was filmed in celebration of her 95th birthday, using the Geoffrey Squire bursary fund.
Filmed by Eye Film
Directors; Charlie Gavain and Clive Dunn
Cameraman & Editor; Max Knaapen
Production Manager; Annu Kolthammer
C&TA Co-ordinator ; Pippa Lacey
With special thanks to Joy Evitt and Jenny Daniels, C&TA, and Ruth Battersby Tooke and Jessica Harpley, NMS.
You can also see Helen's story of Norwich shawls here.
Filmed by Eye Film
Directors; Charlie Gavain and Clive Dunn
Cameraman & Editor; Max Knaapen
Production Manager; Annu Kolthammer
C&TA Co-ordinator ; Pippa Lacey
With special thanks to Joy Evitt and Jenny Daniels, C&TA, and Ruth Battersby Tooke and Jessica Harpley, NMS.
You can also see Helen's story of Norwich shawls here.
1. The dawn of the age of Norwich shawls, the city's role, the status and prestige of Norwich shawls
3. Helen's memories of C&TA Founder Pamela Clabburn
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