Today was my last day at work this year, hurrah! Unfortunately, that means I have been rushing around all day and have only just sat down to address today's lady artist. Yikes, but I have a lady in mind who I will add to my Byam Shaw circle (which has to be an exhibition, if anyone wants to give me a call, I am available) and it is thanks to Byam Shaw that I solved a little mystery about her death date. You will also be pleased that the amount of information I have about Millicent Etheldreda Gray is not reflected in the number of beautiful illustrations we will be looking at, so let's crack on with what we have...
The Hat (undated)
There is actually a bevy of Gray sisters who took up art, but apart from Etheldreda (she seemed to go by M. Etheldreda Gray, so we'll stick to that) and her sister Monica, I can't find any pictures by the others. Anyway, The Grays were extremely well-off; father Horace had been a civil servant and was Colonel, as well a secretary to a political party. Etheldreda's mother, Julia, was the daughter of a master brickmaker employing 30 men, and their first census after their marriage in 1869 was under the same roof as her parents (but it was a very nice roof). Their first child, Hilda Mary was born in 1870, followed by Monica in 1871, then Etheldreda, then Mary in 1875, Naomi in 1876, Agatha in 1878, Annie in 1880 and Marjory in 1889 (a surprise no doubt). They all lived at 2 The Boltons in Kensington.
I have no information really about Miss Gray but I am about to make an assumption (which I will extend to her arty sisters) that she went to school with Byam Shaw. Now, you all know how much I love Byam Shaw (I am willing to set up the Byam Shaw fan club if you want to join, we'll have badges and everything) and her name has been linked with him in various places. She is listed as a 'student' with all her sisters in 1891, so as she was only a year younger than him and Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale, I think she was known to them (for reasons that will become obvious).
Instructing her dolly in the art of going off nicely to Bye-Byes (1914)
She began her RA career in 1899 with the work Royden Water Splash, New Forest. She didn't exhibit in 1900, which I wonder is why she did not list herself as an artist in the 1901 census, despite her sisters Monica and Naomi listed 'artist' as their professions. Agatha merely had her profession as 'Art', which is awesome. Monica had exhibited in 1900, a picture entitled Hook Heath, Surrey. Strangely, both of them were present at the 1901 RA, so possibly it was a mistake that Etheldreda was left out of the art party on the census rather than a moment of existential doubt. I must just include one of Monica's dog pictures as she seems to have specialised in them...
Blimey. Moving on.
Etheldreda had three portraits in the RA in 1901, Peggy, a portrait, The Children of J F L Brunner and a portrait of her father Colonel H W Gray VD 2nd South Middlesex VRC. In case you didn't guess the RA illustrated catalog didn't have her work, which hacked me off, but because she did illustrations, we have some of her work at least. I'm hacked off partly because her 1903 image "The Fool hath said in his heart, There is no God" was described in St James' Gazette as of 'the Neo-preraphaelite school, which follows in the footsteps of Mr Byam Shaw.' Well now, 'the neo-preraphaelites'! There is a nice phrase which I will start overusing on a regular basis (which is so neo-preraphaelite of me).
Child at Play (1938)
Her other piece from 1903 was another portrait, and I'm surprised she went all neo-preraphaelite for the RA, but she is listed with Jessie Macgregor as the followers of Byam Shaw. Looking at her RA record she seems to have interspersed her portraits with moreimaginative (and neo-preraphaelite) pieces. 1906 saw Percy G Gates then 1907 brought The Skylark. 1911's RA featured a portrait of her sister Marjory, which described her pose as 'so perfectly natural and characteristic of girlhood that one instantly recognises its appropriateness in a study of unaffected intimate life.' The year after, a non-portrait year, came The Book. Maybe there is a pattern that she was adhering to, where she liked to mix it up and not get typecast as one sort of painter. We all know that portrait painters don't tend to get too much enthusiasm in the reviews of the RA. Mind you, here we come to 1914's portrait and I'm really hacked off about this one's lack of illustration. Etheldreda's Royal Academy portrait of 1914 was of Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale. Rats, no illustration. Here's that lovely photograph of Byam Shaw and EFB...
Ah, such a lovely photo. Anyway, my second link to the Byam Shaw circle. As far as I can see Etheldreda didn't have anything to do with the Byam Shaw school as either pupil or teacher, but obviously had some link with the families (there is another thing that indicates this, hang in there until the end). In the meantime, brace yourself, as I found one of her RA images...
The Treasure (1925)
Finally, from the RA, I found The Treasure painted by Etheldreda for the 1925 exhibition, illustrated and praised in The Sphere - 'A clever piece of work by a woman exhibitor "The Treasure" painted by Miss Etheldreda Gray ... Miss Gray contributes a delightful study of a woman and child, the composition of which has been very cleverly arranged.'
Arthur William James Russell (1923)
There are some notices in the newspapers of paintings done for commissions such as this one of Arthur Russell, the town clerk of Paddington who, it was reported in the Marylebone Mercury, retired after 52 years of service to the borough, 21 of which were as town clerk, and was presented with this portrait by Etheldreda. She also did a copy of the portrait by Alma-Tadema of Mr Whitaker Thompson, the late Mayor of Kensington, which was presented to the Council for their collection of portraits of Mayors by his widow.
Sir Frederick Harrison, General Manager, London and North Western Railway (undated)
She also painted Sir Frederick Harrison, as did Flora Lion in around 1912, although I can't find a mention of Etheldreda's painting in the newspapers (unlike Flora's) so I don't have a date. Being a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, she exhibited with them including a 1935 portrait of Juliet, the daughter of Glen Byam Shaw (there is still more, trust me).
Back to Etheldreda's life, and she continued to live at home through all the census up to 1911. The family moved about a bit, seen through Etheldreda's RA addresses, but they are all together, Horace and Julia, with Hilda, Monica, Annie, Marjory and Etheldreda (and their three servants). Missing were sister Mary, who had died and Naomi, who had married, with Agatha seemingly off on her own. Monica and Etheldreda were recorded as artists and Annie was a teacher, but everyone else was just wealthy enough to not bother with an occupation.
Illustration from The Treasure Book of Children's Verse (1911)
I got slightly frustrated this afternoon as I thought I had got lucky in picking an artist who had her dates all over the internet - 1873-1957 - but then I couldn't find her death certificate or her probate (I do love a bit of probate). Not only that, on the 1939 register (which I love even more than probate) someone had crossed out her surname and written 'Adams.' Hmmmm....
The Lodge (1919) William Dacres Adams
So, in 1939, Monica and Etheldreda were still living together as retired artists in Cuckfield in Sussex. Less than a year later, 66 year old Etheldreda married 76 year old William Dacres Adams. He was widowed a couple of months beforehand (at 76 you obviously can't hang about) and as he was also an artist, I wondered how long the couple had known each other. They moved to Lewes where William died in 1951 aged 86, and Etheldreda died in 1963, aged 89.
My final Byam Shaw link is her will, where she left some of her £11K wealth to John James Byam Shaw, fine art dealer and son of John Byam Liston Shaw.
