SPIERS, Bessie Joy

1843 - 1901

Elizabeth Joy Spiers, known as Bessie, was born at 14 St Giles’s Street, Oxford on 11 July 1843 and baptised at St Giles’s Church, Oxford on 9 August 1843, daughter of Richard James Spiers (1806-28 September 1877), a stationery manufacturer, and his first wife Elizabeth Phené née Joy (1818-28 October 1858), who married at St Mary's Church, Oxford on 15 July 1837 and they had 13 children in 18 years. In 1851, Bessie was a 7-year-old, living at 14 St Giles Street, Oxford with her parents, 44-year-old Richard and 32-year-old Elizabeth and four siblings, Charlotte Horn Spiers 6, Alice Jane Mary 5, Walter Lewis 2 and newly born Florence Ellen Pigott. Bessie continued living with her father at 14 St Giles Street until his death in 1877 when she went to live with her brother Richard Phené 26, an architect and sister Charlotte, at 21 Bernard Street, St Pancras, London. In 1901, Bessie was a 57-year-old artist, still living with her brother Richard and sister Charlotte at 21 Bernard Street. A landscape painter and a member of the Society of Women Artists and, like her sister Charlotte, she also painted at Walberswick, Suffolk and was a member of the Ipswich Fine Art Club 1890-1899, exhibiting from 21 Bernard Street, London in 1898, 'Sudbury, Suffolk', 'In the Marshes, near Wells' and 'On Brockenhurst Common, Hampshire' and in 1899, 'Whitby, Yorkshire', 'The Ouse at Hemmingford Grey, Huntingdonshire' and 'A Fen Road, Cambridgeshire' which were her last at Ipswich. She also exhibited at the Royal Academy also showing at the Royal Hibernian Academy; Royal Society of British Artists; Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and the Society of Women Artists. As Elizabeth Joy Spiers, she died at 21 Bernard Street, Russell Square, London on 13 September 1901, aged 58, she was unmarried.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from 21 Bernard Street, Russell Square, London
1886 1188 On the River Bank: Caerleon, Monmouthshire - watercolour
1888 1467 Autumn near Reigate - watercolour
1895 1062 A Tidal Creek, Sussex - watercolour

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Works by This Artist