CONTI, Ellen May
As Ellen May Woodward, she was born at Walworth, Southwark, London on 25 May 1884, eldest child of George William Woodward (20 September 1856-9 November 1922), a barrister's clerk, and his wife Ellen née Rogers (1858-11 September 1918), who married at St George's Hanover Square, London in 1883. In 1891, 6-year-old Ellen was living at 45 Wroughton Road, Battersea with her parents, 34-year-old George and 32-year-old Ellen with siblings Gladys Winifred 4 and newly born Phyllis Edith. Ellen was educated at Vicarage School, Clapham Common and County School, Wallington and studied art at West Croydon School of Art where she excelled as a pencil draughtsman, later attending Chelsea Art School under Ernest Borough Johnson (1866-1949), and then attended Clapham Art School, Heatherley School of Fine Art and St Martin's School Of Art where her teachers included Conrad Lomax (1888-1950). In 1911, a 26-year-old fashion artist, living with her parents at 2 Blenheim Gardens, Wallington, Surrey and by 1921 Ellen had moved to 35 Compton Road, Wimbledon with her widowed father and two unmarried sibling sisters Gladys Winifred 34 and Phyllis Edith 31. In 1939, she was lodging at 36 Mayfields Road, Wembley, Middlesex and married at Creeting St Peter, Ipswich in 1946, artist, actor, and singer Guiseppe Pino Giacomo F Conti and painted under the name of Ellen Conti. A member of Ipswich Art Club 1956-1962 and exhibited from 'Loreto', Creeting St Peter, near Ipswich in 1948 two painting, 'Badley Mill' and 'Market Day-The Farmyard' and from Pentlow Lane, Cavendish, Suffolk in 1956, an oil 'Spring Reflections' and two watercolours 'Winter Scene' and 'Christmas Roses' and was a regular annual exhibitor. She was also a member of the Norfolk & Norwich Art Circle 1949-1960 from The Green, Homersfield and from Cavendish, both in Suffolk. Ellen May Conti was of Pentlow Lane, Cavendish, Suffolk when she died at St Mary's Hospital, Bury St Edmund's on 19 April 1963, aged 78.