FAWKES, Irene

1886 - 1977

Irene Fawkes was born at Chelmsford, Essex on 27 February 1886, daughter of Frank Attfield Fawkes (19 January 1849-18 February 1941), a manufacturer of horticultural buildings, and his wife Sarah Smith née Hartridge (1849-21 June 1930), who married at Holy Trinity Church, Anerley, London on 3 May 1881. Irene's father Frank was also the author of at least seventeen different books ranging from 'Babies: How to Rear Them in Health (1883) to 'Adventures of a Chemist' (1930) also writing under the penname "X”, 'Marmaduke, Emperor of Europe' (1895). Irene studied at Chelmsford School of Science and Art where she won bronze medals in 1908 and from the City and Guilds of London Art School, she was awarded an honours grade silver medal in 1909 passing out in Industrial Design in 1913. In 1911, a 24-year-old art teacher, living at 34 Hamlet Road, Chelmsford and in the 1920s and 1930s, worked as a commercial designer and illustrator, producing, twenty-two posters and thirteen panel posters for London Transport between 1923 and 1935. She also taught drawing and design at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute, Jewry Street, London, which is now incorporated in London Metropolitan University, 1927-1935. In 1939, an artist, living at 'Periwinkle', The Lane, West Mersea, Essex but by 18 February 1941 she was living at 9 Rosebery Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk and lived in Felixstowe for the rest of her life. In 1962, Irene Fawkes was a retired artist, living at 20 Berners Road, Felixstowe and died at Osbourne House Nursing Home, 17-19 Montague Road, Felixstowe on 13 August 1977, aged 91, she was unmarried. She signed her works 'Fawkes' in capital letters.

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Works by This Artist