HAWARD, Elsie Emily

1880 - 1956

As Elsie Emily Birkin, she was born at 31 Head Street, Halstead, Essex on 28 November 1880, daughter of John Birkin (1839-1910), a cordwainer (shoemaker), and his wife Anna née Buckle (1843-1892), who married at Wetherden, Suffolk in 1864. In 1901, Elsie was a 20-year-old milliner, living at 31 Head Street, Halstead with her 61-year-old widowed father John, born at Bow, London and her three sibling sisters, Gertrude Ellen 29, Kathleen Lucy 24 and Olive Davis 21, all born at Halstead. Elsie married at Ipswich in 1910, Arthur William Haward (2 February 1882-22 March 1942) and their son was Birkin Haward. In 1911, Elsie was a 30-year-old, living at 93 Hatfield Road, Ipswich with her 29-year-old husband, Arthur William, an insurance clerk. Elsie studied under Leonard Squirrell at the Ipswich School of Art and was a watercolour landscape painter and a member of the Ipswich Art Club 1927-1956, and a former committee member, and exhibited from 28 St Edmunds Road, Ipswich in 1927 four watercolours, 'Old Maltings, Fore Street', 'Flatford Bridge in Spring', 'The Blyth from Walberswick Common' and 'Still Life Group', in 1933 from Broad Beech, Belstead Road, Ipswich, six watercolours 'Summer Flowers', 'Old Barn, Tuddenham', 'In Dock', 'Dunsford, Devon', 'A Glimpse of the Orwell' and 'St Margaret's Plain' and was a regular annual exhibitor. In 1939, she was still living at Belstead Road, Ipswich with her husband Arthur and their son Birkin Haward. She continued to exhibit at Ipswich, in 1942 'Dockside', 'Azalea Mollis', 'St Margarets Plain', 'Water' and 'Cley, Norfolk' and six in 1943 'Cretingham, Suffolk', 'Framsden Mill', 'Byroad, Black Notley', 'Farm Buildings, Earl Soham', 'A Cotswold Cottage' and 'Harlech', in 1944 'Anenomes', Near Llanbeder, North Wales', 'The Cornfield', 'A Corner of Earl Soham' and 'Kersey Street' and her watercolour 'Corfe Castle' was shown at the centenary exhibition of Art Club in 1974. She also exhibited at Tibbenham's Art Gallery, Ipswich in 1943 'Framlingham Castle' and 'The Vale of Festiniog' also exhibiting at the Royal Academy, at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 1936-1940 from Broad Beech, Belstead Road, Ipswich. Her husband died at Fonnereau Road Nursing Home, Ipswich on 22 March 1942, aged 60, and Elsie Emily Haward died at 142 Rayne Road, Braintree, Essex on 16 May 1956, aged 75.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from Broad Beech, Belstead Road, Ipswich
1936 828 A Cornish Mill - watercolour

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Works by This Artist