Frances Baker Explained

Frances Baker
Birth Name:Frances Davies-Colley
Birth Date:1873 5, df=yes
Birth Place:London, United Kingdom
Death Date:[1]
Death Place:Cambridge, United Kingdom
Education:Slade School of Fine Art
Field:Genre and Portrait Painting
Spouse:

    Frances Baker (3 May 1873 – 14 November 1944), also known professionally as Frances Cahill, was a British painter who was active in Ireland in the early years of the 20th century.

    Biography

    Frances Davies-Colley was born into a prominent family of medical professionals: her father, John Neville Davies-Colley, was chief surgeon at Guy's Hospital, London, her brothers, Robert Davies-Colley and Hugh Davies-Colley, also became surgeons at Guy's, and her sister, Eleanor Davies-Colley, was the founder of the South London Hospital for Women and Children and the first woman elected to the Royal College of Surgeons.

    Frances, the eldest child, studied at the Slade School of Art, taking a certificate in figure drawing in the 1894-95 session.[2] She married Cecil Cautley Baker in 1897;[3] a surveyor by profession, he had taken first prize honors at the Royal Agricultural College in 1877[4] and passed the professional examination of the Institution of Surveyors in 1885.[5] The couple had two daughters: Lettice Cautley Baker (later Ramsey), born in Guildford, Surrey, England in 1898; and Frances Cautley Baker (later Trench;[6] later Farrell),[7] born in Thakeham, Sussex, England in 1902. The family moved to Rosses Point, County Sligo, where Cecil Baker leased oyster farming rights in the Sligo estuary.[8] He died suddenly in 1903,[9] and his widow and young family moved to Ballysadare, where Frances had a farm, worked as a photographer[10] and continued painting.

    Working both in oil and watercolor, producing portraits and landscapes, Baker exhibited regularly with George William Russell (AE).[11] [12] In Dublin, Baker was acquainted with Irish activists and artists including Constance Gore-Booth and her second husband Casimir Dunin Markievicz. She exhibited paintings in a joint show at the Leinster Lecture Hall in 1911 with Markievicz, Russell, and Paul and Grace Henry.[13] [14] She also showed work in exhibitions at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.[15] [16]

    Frances Baker married a second time in 1915 to Dublin physician Francis Kennedy Cahill. Her husband was active in amateur theatrical circles, and they were involved with the United Arts Club in Dublin.[17]

    In 1919, she opened a textile weaving workshop called the Crock of Gold in Dublin.[12] The firm became well known as part of the craft revival of handwork and exhibited at the Irish Decorative Art Association exhibitions pre-Partition and the Arts and Crafts Society shows throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s.[18] As with other successful handcrafting businesses at the time, the firm’s traditional handmade textiles sold to modern fashion designers, including French designer Coco Chanel.[19] Baker's daughter Frances and her husband, the writer Michael Farrell, later managed the highly successful business.[20] [21] [22]

    Baker's second husband Dr Francis Kennedy Cahill died suddenly in 1930 in Dublin, while Baker was in England attending the funeral of her son-in-law, the Cambridge mathematician Frank P. Ramsey.[17] Baker lived in France for a time but settled in Cambridge by the late 1930s.[12] [23] She died in Cambridge in November 1944.[24]

    Paintings

    After her second marriage, Baker was known as Mrs Kennedy Cahill and Frances Cahill; she signed her work with the initials “FB” and “FC.”

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957 . Gov.uk . 28 August 2020.
    2. Book: University College, London. Calendar. 1895. (l).
    3. Book: 81. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1931. January 1st, 1897, Cecil Cautley Baker and Frances Davies-Colley.
    4. Book: The Farmer's Magazine. 1877.
    5. Book: The British Architect: A Journal of Architecture and the Accessory Arts. 1885.
    6. Book: Odhams Press. Debrett. John. Hankinson. C. F. J.. Hesilrige. Arthur G. M.. Debrett, John, C. F. J. Hankinson, and Arthur G. M. Hesilrige. Debretts peerage, baronetage, knightage, and companionage .... London. 1947.
    7. Book: 316. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005. Marriages registered in October, November, December, 1930.
    8. Book: Commons, Great Britain Parliament House of. Sessional papers. Inventory control record 1. 1903.
    9. Book: 100. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995. Baker, Cecil Cantley (1903).
    10. Book: Form A, Census of Ireland, 1911.
    11. Web site: Burch. Stephen. Lettice Ramsey - Obituary and feature article. Stephen Burch (Steve Burch) Birding Website. 31 January 2018.
    12. Book: Yale University Press. 978-0-300-11712-7. Kennedy. S. B.. Henry. Paul. Paul Henry: With a Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings, Illustrations. 2007.
    13. News: Pictures at Molesworth Street. Freeman's Journal. 17 October 1911.
    14. News: The Five Artists: Pictures as Leinster Hall. Irish Times. 16 October 1911.
    15. Web site: The Hoyle Gallery. 17 February 2018.
    16. Book: Arrington, Lauren. Princeton University Press. 978-1-4008-7418-7. Revolutionary Lives: Constance and Casimir Markievicz. 2015.
    17. Web site: In memoriam. Francis Kennedy Cahill (1876-1930). Vdocuments.site. 13 February 2018.
    18. Book: McBrinn, Joseph. Routledge. 978-1-351-57082-4. Sandra Alfoldy . "Craft, Space and Interior Design, 1855-2005 ". Craft as union, craft as demarcation: the decoration of Belfast Cathedral. 2017.
    19. 10.1080/1362704X.2015.1058047. 1362-704X. 19. 4. 477–482. McBrinn. Joseph. Cleo: Irish Clothes in a Wider World. Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture. September 2015. 164626662.
    20. 48. 46–47. Lynch. Martin. Michael Farrell, Carlowman (1899-1962) Writer or "Die, Publish and be damned". Carloviana. 16 February 2018. 2000.
    21. 6. 3. 8. Ireland's Industrial Advance: Crock of Gold. Gaelic Echo. 25 February 2018. March 1957.
    22. O'Meara. John. On the Fringe of Letters. Irish University Review. 1997. 27. 2. 310–324. 25484738.
    23. Web site: Results for 1939 Register, 'Frances Cahill 1873 Cambridge'. Find My Past.
    24. Book: England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007. Deaths Registered in October, November and December, 1944.

    This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Frances Baker".

    Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.