Mary Lobb Explained

Mary Lobb
Birth Date:1 October 1878
Birth Place:Cornwall
Death Place:Kelmscott
Partner:May Morris
Other Names:Miss Vivian Lobb

Mary Frances Vivian Lobb (1878 – 1939) was an English Land Army volunteer and life companion to the English designer May Morris for 22 years.

Early life

Mary Francis Vivian Lobb was born in New Malden, Surrey in 1878. Her parents were Nicholas William Lobb and Emma Vivian Lobb, and she was the second of their five children.[1] Lobb grew up in Penerthwin and was educated at St. Thomas College in Launceston.

Personal life

Lobb was a Land Girl, or Land Army volunteer, in World War I. In 1917 Lobb met May Morris, who was living at Kelmscott Manor, which had been her father William Morris' country retreat.[2] [3] Morris had had two relationships with men that had failed before meeting Lobb.[4] Lobb moved in, initially serving as a gardener.[5] Lobb and Morris would spend the rest of their lives together.[6] Lobb was known for wearing sturdy clothes, with a Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers.[7] Evelyn Waugh described Lobb as a 'hermaphrodite'[8] and George Bernard Shaw also described Lobb in negative terms. As time passed, Lobb and Morris traveled through Europe, including visits to Iceland[9] and Gwbert in Wales.[10]

May Morris died in 1938, leaving £12,000 to Mary Lobb and tenure of Kelmscott Manor, where Lobb remained until her death the following year.[11] Following Morris' death some of the objects in Kelmscott Manor were auctioned off.[12] Lobb donated the jewellery that Morris had left to her to Victoria and Albert Museum in London,[13] and gave the city of Exeter, England her Icelandic artifacts[14] which included a drinking horn.[15]

Death

Lobb died of heart disease in 1939. Her will stipulated she was to have no coffin, only a plain oblong box. She was cremated; her wish was for her ashes to be "scattered on a Cornish Moor preferably Bosporthennis Manor". She left her notebooks to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.

In 2017, the Kelmscott Manor Museum had an exhibit centered on Lobb.[16]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Evans . Simon . The Eclectic Collection of Miss M.F.V. Lobb . 10 June 2021 . National Library of Wales.
  2. Book: MacCarthy, Fiona . William Morris : a life for our time . 1995 . New York : Knopf . Internet Archive . 978-0-394-58531-4 . 679.
  3. Book: Society of Antiquaries of London . Kelmscott Manor & estate conservation management plan . 2013 . 26–27.
  4. News: Dixon . Anne Campbell . 12 April 2003 . Life's rich tapestry Drug addiction, a menage a trois, insanity, lesbianism . . . Kelmscott saw it all when William Morris moved his family - and wife's lover - there . 8 . The Daily Telegraph; London (UK) [London (UK)] . ProQuest.
  5. News: 29 February 2020 . Bringing real LGBT lives to life . 16 . Western Mail; Cardiff (UK) [Cardiff (UK)]. ProQuest.
  6. Book: Daly, Gay . Pre-Raphaelites in love . 1989 . New York : Ticknor & Fields . Internet Archive . 978-0-89919-450-9 . 411.
  7. Ricketts . Rita . 2010-11-01 . International Dateline-Earthly Paradise . Against the Grain . 22 . 5 . 10.7771/2380-176X.5674 . 2380-176X. free .
  8. News: Sanderson . David . October 18, 2017 . Journal reveals wilderness years of artist May Morris . en . The Times . 2022-06-18 . 0140-0460.
  9. Jonsdottir . Gudrun . 1986 . May Morris and Miss Lobb in Iceland · William Morris Archive . 2022-06-18 . Journal of William Morris Studies. 7. 1.
  10. Book: Jan Marsh . Jane and May Morris . 1986 . Pandora Press . Internet Archive . 978-0-86358-026-0.
  11. News: 1939-01-31 . Bequests of poet's daughter . 9 . Birmingham Gazette . 2022-06-18.
  12. Chitty . Gill . Stocker . David . Westerwald Stoneware at Kelmscott Manor: Morris, Pottery and the Politics of Production . 2019 . The Antiquaries Journal . en . 99 . 363–397 . 10.1017/S0003581519000027 . 0003-5815.
  13. Web site: Vivian Lobb V&A Explore The Collections . 2022-06-18 . Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections . en.
  14. News: 1939-10-05 . Bequest of Icelandic articles to Exeter R.A.M. Museum . 4 . The Express and Echo . 2022-06-18.
  15. News: 4 June 2009 . An unusual souvenir from trip: This drinking horn was one of a number of items donated to the museum by Mary Lobb in 1939. . 16 . Express & Echo; Exeter (UK) [Exeter (UK)].
  16. Web site: Mary Lobb — From Cornwall to Kelmscott: A Life Revealed - Exhibition at Kelmscott Manor - WhichMuseum . 2022-06-18 . whichmuseum.com . en.

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