PRETTY, Elsie Mary
Elsie Mary Pretty was born at The Firs, Woodbridge Road, Ipswich on 2 August 1885, daughter of William Pretty (1 January 1842-12 February 1916), a draper & corset manufacturer, and his second wife Annie Maria Sherington (1849-28 December 1925), second daughter of Charles Sherington, a hairdresser & perfumer, who married at Christ's Church, Gipsy Hill, Lambeth on 30 June 1874, and was a half-sister to Maud Pretty and sister to Frank Pretty. Elsie was educated at Rottingdean, Sussex and in 1911, a 25-year-old, living at The Goldrood, Belstead Road, Ipswich with her parents, 69-year-old William and 61-year-old Anna Maria and two siblings, Maud 42 and Frank 31. During the Great War 1914-1918, a overseas volunteer in the British Red Cross. In 1939, she was living at Brynderwyn, Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire, Wales. An associate member of the Ipswich Art Club 1950-1971 and exhibited from Valley House, Ipswich Road, Woodbridge in 1950 two pictures, an oil 'Sailing on the Orwell' and a watercolour 'Sunflowers', she next exhibited in 1953 an oil, 'Flowers' and was an irregular exhibitor, exhibiting in 1962 an oil, 'Little Ship' and a watercolour. Her last exhibit was in 1965 when her 'Kingston Farm, Winter' was on show. Elsie Mary Pretty died at Clementsdene Nursing Home, Bluehouse Lane, Oxted, Surrey on 5 October 1972, she was unmarried.