HARDY, Mary Read
Mary Read Hardy was born at Hampstead, London in 1863, daughter of William Read Hardy (17 July 1827-17 April 1894), a member of the London Stock Exchange, and his wife Anne Frances (1831-29 January 1901), third daughter of Matthew Leach, who married at Christ Church, Highbury, London on 7 August 1855. In 1881, Mary was an 18-year-old, living at 11 Belsize Park, Hampstead with her parents, 50-year-old William and 49-year-old 'Annie' and siblings, William Ernest 24, Harold 22, Percival 20 and Alice Frances 14. A member of the Ipswich Art Club 1923-1925 from Rock House, Austenwood Lane, Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire and exhibited five watercolours in 1923, 'The Woods, Wellington, Berkshire', 'The Marshes, Hollesley', 'Shingle Street from Hollesley', 'Potato Field, Hollesley' and 'Bean Field, Hollesley'. Rock House was occupied by Arthur John Elkington (1862-1928) and his wife Alice Frances née Hardy, who was Mary's sister. Mary Read Hardy was a member of the parochial church council and a prominent member of the Cowper Society and was of The Square, Olney, Buckinghamshire when she died at a Nursing Home at 27 London Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire on 16 July 1934, she was unmarried.