BRAITHWAITE, Mary Elizabeth

1874 - 1952

Mary Elizabeth Braithwaite was born at The Rectory, Great Waldingfield, Sudbury, Suffolk on 23 April 1874 and baptised at Great Waldingfield on 7 June 1874, eldest daughter and second child of the seven children of Revd Francis Joseph Braithwaite (5 October 1837-29 May 1889), a clerk in holy orders, and his wife Mary née Hopkinson (12 November 1844-11 May 1928), who married at Great Gidding, Huntingdonshire on 21 June 1871. Mary studied at Brighton School of Art where she was living with her widowed mother in 1891, with four siblings Margaret Dorothea 12, Thomas Miles 10, Richard Edmund 7 and Humphrey Layfield 5, who were all born at Great Waldingield, but the family returned to live at Acton Place, near Long Melford, Suffolk. In 1911, Mary was a 36-year-old ‘artist’ and ‘social work’ living at 78 Gloucester Place, Portman Square, London whilst her mother had moved into Brook House, Long Melford. A member of the Ipswich Fine Art Club 1933-1951 but had exhibited from Brook House, Long Melford in 1923, two watercolours 'Boats, Walberswick Harbour' and 'North Aisle, Westminster Abbey', in 1933 showing an oil 'Hall Mill, Long Melford' and a watercolour 'From Loch MarMarie', in 1935 four oils 'Suilven, near Loch Inver', 'Ullapool', 'Dorny Castle from the Ferry' and 'Archilbuie', in 1937 an oil 'Oetysse, Norway' and watercolours 'Lady Street, Lavenham', 'In Norway', 'Bergen' and 'Water Street, Lavenham', in 1943 she exhibited four works 'Mixed Vase', 'Lilies and Delphiniums', 'Honeysuckle' and 'Clematis' and was a regular annual exhibitor, all from Brook House, Long Melford. She also exhibited at Walker Art Gallery, London Salon, and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, 1909-1923. Mary Elizabeth Braithwaite died at Brook House, Long Melford on 11 February 1952, aged 77, she was unmarried. Two of her brothers, Major Francis Joseph (5 December 1872-4 November 1914 ) and Lieut. Humphry Layfield (25 January 1885-10 July 1916) and her sister Nurse Margaret Dorothea (8 April 1878-3 March 1919 ), are recorded in the Roll of Honour in Great Waldingfield Church.

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Works by This Artist