TRAFFORD GALLERY
The Trafford Gallery was founded by Charles Alvar Harding (1915-2001) at 119 Mount Street, Mayfair, London in 1948. Harding, the son of Charles Copeley Harding (1873-1942), a wealthy Birmingham businessman, young Charles lived in Cadogan Square, Chelsea where he entertained diplomats, aristocrats, politicians, and courtiers. The Trafford Gallery staged a number of popular exhibitions and helped to launch the career of artists including John Stanton Ward (1917-2007) who eventually became a member of the Royal Academy. 'Established' artists such as Noël Coward (1899-1973) and Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (1904-1980) also showed at the 'Trafford' as it was known which was eventually to close in the 1970s with the last exhibition noted was in April 1974 with the works of Peter Arthur Brannan (1926-1994). Suffolk artists who exhibited at the Trafford Gallery include Fred Dubery, Margaret Green, Joyce Pallot and Robert Sadler.