FARMILOE, Edith

1870 - 1921

As Edith Caroline Parnell, she was born at Medway Villas, Gillingham, Kent in 1870, third daughter of Colonel the Hon. Arthur Parnell (4 January 1841-28 July 1914), son of 3rd Baron Congleton, then a captain in the Royal Engineers, and his wife Mary Anne Dunn (1845-26 July 1912), daughter of Alfred Rouse Dunn, who married St Pancras, London on 15 October 1868. In 1871, Edith was a newly born, living at Medway Villas, Gillingham with her parents, 30-year-old Arthur and 25-year-old Mary, with an elder sibling, 1-year-old Winifred Mary, another younger sister had died at birth. In 1881, Edith and her sister Winifred, were residing with their grandfather Ernest Edward Dunn, a wool merchant, at Chatley House, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. Edith married at St James's, Piccadilly, London on 7 April 1891, Venerable William Thomas Farmiloe (15 September 1863–4 July 1946), then vicar of St Peter's in Great Windmill Street, Soho, London. In 1901, Edith Farmiloe was a 30-year-old artist, living at 124 Ashley Gardens, St Margaret & St John, St George Hanover Square, London with her 38-year-old husband William and they retained two indoor servants. By 1911, her husband had taken the vicarage of Nayland, Suffolk and Edith was living at The Rectory with her husband, her 64-year-old mother Mary Anne and retained four indoor servants. Author and book illustrator of children's stories of at least 15 works, including 'Rag, Tag and Bobtail' (1899), 'Piccalilli' (1899), 'Mr and Mrs Tiddliwinks' (1902) and 'Mr Biddle and the Dragon' (1904) and illustrated others. Edith Caroline Farmiloe died at Abbey House, Bury St Edmund's, Suffolk on 26 March 1921, aged 50, and there is a stained-glass window memorial in St James's Church, Nayland. Her husband died at Eastbourne, Sussex in 1946, they had a son Miles Damer Bligh 'Dick' Farmiloe (1903-1983). The memorial to Major Geoffrey Brooke Parnell (1882-1916) was designed by his sister Edith Farmiloe as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by her brother which is in Holy Trinity Church, High Street, Guildford, Surrey.

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Works by This Artist