BAXENDALE, Peter

1897 - 1974

Peter Baxendale was the pseudonym of Amy Beatrice Baxendale. As Amy Beatrice Grasby, she was born at Lamberth, London on 13 February 1897, second daughter of Edward Grasby (1863-1918), an ironmonger & cycle dealer, and his wife Lizzie (Elizabeth) née Holt, of Croyde House, Finsbury Park, London who married at Kingsthorpe, Northampton on 14 July 1891. In 1911, Amy was a 14-year-old, living at 54 Beechdale Road, Brixton Hill, Lambeth with her parents, 48-year-old Edward, who was born at Colsterworth, Lincoln and 48-year-old Elizabeth, who was born at Southwark, London. Amy studied at Reading School of Art, designing costumes and scenery, after which she specialised in portraits. She married at Chelsea, London in 1925, Basil Francis Baxendale. She later sought her subjects in the world of the circus and, to get material, she and her husband accompanied [Bertram] Mills's Tenting Show for two years, living in their own caravan. In 1930 they were living in Sussex Square, Brighton, Sussex also having an apartment in Bruton Square, London but by 1939, an artist, living at 60 Oswald House, Northgate, Beccles, Suffolk with her husband. As Peter Baxendale, she held many exhibitions of her works in both colour and black & white, including at Connell & Sons Gallery in 1933 and amongst her many distinguished sitters was the King of Spain in 1928 and Anna May Wong, the American Chinese film star. Her husband Basil, died at White Lodge, Monkwood Ropley, Hampshire on 11 September 1965 and Amy Beatrice Baxendale died at Swan Hotel, Alresford, Hampshire on 14 October 1974, they had an only daughter, Joanna-Marie, born at Brighton in 1927.

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Works by This Artist