RICHARDSON, Nellie

1889 - 1956

As Ellen Eliza Richardson, she was born at Hackney, London on 3 January 1889, daughter of William John Richardson, a printer compositor, and his wife Agnes Ada née Brown, who married at Bethnal Green, London in 1884. In 1901, Nellie, as she was known, was a 13-year-old, living at 31 Candy Street, Stratford le Bow, London with her parents, 37-year-old John and 35-year-old Agnes, and four siblings Agnes Ada 14, Ida Matilda 7, Rose Henrietta 4 and William James Frederick 1, all born in London. Nellie married at Chelsea in 1909, [[William [Kay] Kirkbride Blacklock,75]] and they had one daughter. In 1911, Nellie was a 23-year-old, living at 46 Gunder Grove, Chelsea, London with her husband and one year old daughter Eleanor Irene, born Chelsea. Nellie was Blacklock's model for a series of paintings between 1910 and 1917 and the illustration is a painting by Blacklock of Nellie. About 1912 they moved to 'The Barn' at Walberswick, Suffolk and were still there in 1916 but later moved to 152 Fosse Road South, Leicester and then to Polperro, Cornwall where her husband died on 11 August 1924. Nellie took up watercolour flower painting and won the RHS silver medal for floral painting at Chelsea in 1926. Under her maiden name of Nellie Richardson, she exhibited at the Royal Academy she also exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour from The Barn, Walberswick, Suffolk in 1915, Leicester in 1920 and London in 1926. In 1927 Nellie married secondly at Kensington, London, Dr Edward James Bernard Sewell (2 August 1888-23 September 1966), a medical practitioner, when she seems to have given up exhibiting. In 1939, Nellie was living at 56 Westwood Park Road, Peterborough with her husband Edward. Ellen Eliza Sewell was of Vounder House, Penzance, Cornwall when she died in West Cornwall Hospital, Penzance on 3 September 1956, aged 68. She signed her later works 'Nellie Blacklock'.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from The Barn, Walberswick, Southwold, Suffolk
1914 985 Violets and Primroses
1915 1070 Single Chrysanthemums
         1271 Blue Larkspur
1916 1504 Cornflowers
from 282 Kings Road, Chelsea
1925 805 Polyanthus
from 4 Sydney Street, Chelsea
1927 822 Sweet Williams
from 29 Sydney Street, Chelsea
1928 857 Carnations

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Works by This Artist