HAWKINS, Maria Susan
Maria Susan Hawkins was born at Milden, Suffolk in 1845, eldest of the nine children of Robert Hawkins (1814-24 March 1881), a farmer of 320 acres, and his wife Esther Wright (1818-17 December 1892), youngest daughter of the late Thomas Wright of Woodlands, Shooter's Hill, Kent who married at St Mary's Church, Islington, London on 20 July 1843. In 1861, Maria was a 16-year-old, living at Hall Farm, Church Lane, Milden, Suffolk with her parents, 47-year-old Robert, born at Monks Eleigh, Suffolk and 41-year-old Esther, born in London and eight siblings, Maria Susan 15, George F. 14, Robert 12, John A. 10, Jonathan Abbott 7, Octavius Gregory 5, Agnes Theodosia 4 and newly born Amy S., all born at Milden. Maria exhibited at the Ipswich Fine Art Club 1882-1884, and in three exhibition catalogues she is only referred to as Miss Hawkins when she exhibited from Milden, near Hadleigh, Suffolk, but in 1883 one of her paintings is listed under M. Hawkins. Her father Richard died at Milden early in 1881, aged 67, and in the census of that year the Hawkins family at Hall Farm, Milden consisted of 62-year-old Esther, a widow, and her six children including 31-year-old George, who ran the farm. In 1882, Miss Hawkins of Milden exhibited three watercolours at the Ipswich Art Club, 'Evening', 'A Quiet Nook' and 'A Study from Nature', in 1883 two watercolours 'Southery Wood, Lincolnshire' and 'Clipson's Pond' and in 1884, as M. Hawkins she had a further three watercolours 'Bramford Fields from Whitton', 'Lavenham and Brentfield, from Milden' and 'Winter', she did not exhibit again. In 1911, Maria was a 58-year-old, living on private means at Incledon, Lavenham, Suffolk with two of her unmarried sisters Agnes 53 and Amy 50. As Susan Maria Hawkins, she died at Lavenham on 16 January 1914, aged 68, she was unmarried.