ABBOTT, Maria Rebecca
Maria Rebecca Abbott was baptised at Diss, Norfolk on 9 January 1829, daughter of Edward Edmund Abbott (1788-11 March 1863), a printer & stationer, and his wife Mary Main (1797-21 March 1882), daughter of Robert and Rebecca Main, Edward and Mary married at Swaffham, Norfolk on 10 August 1819. In 1861, Maria was a 28-year-old professional artist in wax & leather, and flower painting, living at 3 Tavern Street, Ipswich, the home of her 49-year-old brother-in-law Robert Smith, a draper, and his wife 33-year-old Mary Ann and their family together with her parents, 73-year-old Edward Edmund and 63-year-old Mary. Maria exhibited and was a medal winner at the Ipswich Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition in 1868. Maria lived in Ipswich for most of her life and in 1911, with no occupation, was an unmarried 82-year-old living at Rossmore, Crabbe Street, Ipswich, the home of her nephew, 54-year-old Alfred Joseph Leighton, a leather factor, and his family. Maria Rebecca Abbott died at Rossmore, Crabbe Street, Ipswich on 27 June 1911, she was unmarried.