Education
Royal College of Artist
Royal College of Artist
Born in Stanfields, Stoke-on-Trent, she was the youngest of seven children. From an early age she developed an interest in drawing, and began her art education by attending night classes at the Burslem School of Artist In 1922 she joined the ceramics firm A. East. Gray & Company
Limited, partially as a means to gain entry to the Royal College of Artist
A. Edward Gray quickly discovered her talents as a painter and designer, and soon she was producing her hand-painted floral designs. In 1923 A. East. Gray launched the Gloria Lustre Range employing the technique of lustreware.
She worked for many other pottery firms over the next several decades, including Wedgwood. In 1940 she was awarded Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts, and in 1979 she received an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. By all accounts Elizabeth, The Queen Mother was an admirer of her work.
At the age of 80 she retired to live on the Isle of Manitoba, and died there in 1995.
Like the Potteries-based ceramic designers Clarice Cliff and Charlotte Rhead, her work has become highly sought after and valued by some pottery collectors.