Mary Wheelhouse

British painter, illustrator, toymaker, suffragette (1868–1947)

Mary Vermuyden Wheelhouse (c. 1868 – c. 1947)^[a] was a British painter, illustrator, toymaker and suffragette.

Early life and education

Mary Wheelhouse was born in Leeds, Yorkshire. She probably studied at the Scarborough School of Art around 1895 and then spent three years studying in Paris at the Académie Delécluse.^[b] The Women's International Art Club (WIAC) was founded by students at the Académie Delécluse and Wheelhouse was on the executive committee of the WIAC 1904–06 and 1908–1914.^[1]

Career

From 1900 Wheelhouse lived in Chelsea and for a time at the same address as the artist Louise Jacobs with whom she ran a shop, Pomona Toys, in Cheyne Walk, supplying children's toys to Fortnum's, Liberty's and Harrods. They exhibited toys at the 1916 Arts and Crafts exhibition.^[2] She illustrated a large number of books and children's books, primarily by women writers including George Eliot, Juliana Horatia Ewing, George Sand and Elizabeth Gaskell.^[3]^[4]

Suffrage

Wheelhouse campaigned for women's suffrage and was a board member of the Artists' Suffrage League, founded in 1907.^[5]

Works illustrated include

May Baldwin's Holly House and Ridges Row, W. & R. Chambers, London, 1908^[6]
George Sand's novel Les Maîtres Sonneurs (The Bagpipers), London, 1908
Louisa M Alcott's "Good Wives", G. Bell & Sons, London, 1911^[7]

Notes and references

Notes

^ Dates vary in the sources.
^ Sources say that Wheelhouse studied at "Academie Delecture" but there is no record of an Academie Delecture; it seems certain that "Delecture" is a misreading of "Delecluse", given the Delécluse's association with the WIAC of which Wheelhouse was a prominent member.

References

^ Yu, Mengting (2018). "5". "A talented and decorative group" :a re‑examination of London's women artists, c.1900–1914 (Doctoral thesis). Nanyang Technological University. hdl:10356/73862.
^ Green, Rebecca. "Pomona Toys". Dolls' Houses Past & Present.
^ "Wheelhouse, M. V." WorldCat Identities.
^ "Wheelhouse, Mary Vermuyden, 1868-1947". Dominic Winter Auctioneers. Cirencester, England. 2018.
^ "Mary V. Wheelhouse (Illustrator of Cousin Phillis)". goodreads.com.
^ Holly House and Ridges Row.
^ Good Wives – A Sequel To "Little Women". G. Bell And Sons. 1911.