POSFORD, Mabel Annie
Mabel Annie Posford was born at Comillah, Bengal, India on 15 December 1889, daughter of Joseph Posford and his wife Ann Rebecca née Everitt (10 July 1847-5 November 1930), who married at Bucklesham, near Ipswich on 29 December 1886. In 1901, Mabel was an 11-year-old, living with her parents and 12-year-old sister Mary Elizabeth at Holiday House, Wolsey Terrace, Felixstowe, Suffolk where her father built a new house 'Foxgrove', High Road East, Felixstowe. In 1911, a 21-year-old, living at 'Foxgrove', High Road East, Felixstowe with her 63-year-old widowed mother Ann, and 22-year-old sister Mary and they retained two servants. By 1921 the family had moved to Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. An art teacher and a painter in oil and watercolour of both portraits and landscapes and a member of Ipswich Art Club 1922-1952, exhibiting from 'Maythorne', Christchurch Road, Cheltenham in 1921, two watercolours 'Nekington, Gloucester' and 'Old House, Gloucester', her next exhibits were in 1923 when she had five works on show 'St Michael's Mount', 'Newlyn', 'Shurdington, Gloucestershire', 'Elmstone, Hardwicke, Gloucestershire' and a pen & ink 'Gee-Up, Horses', in 1925 four watercolours 'Gloucester Docks', 'A Ruined Cottage', 'Leckhampton Orchard' and 'In Elfland' and in 1927 three watercolours 'Swindon, near Cheltenham', 'Gloucester Docks' and 'An Old Cow Shed' and from 16 Montpelier Terrace, Cheltenham in 1932 'Cottages at Portlock Weir' and 'Dover Hay Farm, Portlock', in 1933 'North Door, Fairford Church', 'Cornish Coast', 'The Trout Stream' and 'Washing Day', in 1935 'Church Door, North Cerney, Glos.' and a lino-cut 'Cley-next-sea, Norfolk' and in 1937 'A Dorset Farm', 'Norfolk Farm' and 'Bacton Beach', she was a regular annual exhibitor showing fifty-five works 1921-1949, with her last exhibits in 1949 from Montpelier Crescent three works, 'Grey Evening, Campden', 'Cley next Sea, Norfolk' and 'The Wye Valley'. In 1939, Mabel Annie Posford was living on private means at 79 Montpellier Grove, Cheltenham, and where she died on 10 December 1983, she was unmarried.