PEOPLE with Dorset ancestors are being asked to check their family trees in order to reunite descendants of a Victorian lady with a family legacy.

Names which are of particular interest include Budden, Hansford, Northover and Hines.

The search started after a needlework sampler was discovered at Woolley and Wallis Salisbury Salesroom and had been put up for auction.

A handwritten label was spotted on the back of the 19th century piece reading: “I give this picture to my niece, Lucy Edith, for her life and to her children, after her never to be sold or given out of the family. Louisa Budden.”

The Wiltshire auction house are now researching into how it had been sold in the first place, ignoring the original owners' instructions.

Mark Yuan-Richards, Head of Furniture, said: “The sampler was done by Louisa when she was just 13, so it’s understandable that it was important to her and she wanted to keep it within the family.

“We didn’t think we’d be able to trace anything, but thanks to family history websites such as Ancestry, we’ve been surprisingly lucky in building up a picture of her background.”

Louisa Budden was born in Loders, near Bridport in 1831 and is the daughter of John and Sophia Budden.

Lucy Edith Hansford, as named on the label, was daughter of Louisa’s sister, Eliza. Lucy married a man named George Northover and had two children called Margot Rita Northover and Audrey Theodora Northover.

After this the trail goes cold as neither daughter appears to have had any children and both moved away from the Dorset area.

Mr Yuan-Richards adds: “We know that Audrey died in Newcastle in 1994 and Margot was living in Leeds when she died in 2001. Without anything to the contrary we have to assume that the sampler left the family’s possession around this time.

“However, we know that Louisa herself had other siblings, and Lucy Edith (the niece) also had other siblings, so we think there are other relatives of Louisa still out there who might be delighted to be reunited with her work.”

The foot-wide sampler features a seated tabby cat within a leaf and Greek key border and is named “Bridport Aged 13.”

It carries a pre-sale estimate of £150-£250 and is being sold on Wednesday October 2.