Margaret Mary Tempest (1892–1982) was a British illustrator and author, best known for her illustrations of Alison Uttley's Little Grey Rabbit books.

Life

Margaret Tempest was born at 2 Fonnereau Road,

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, Suffolk, in 1892. She lived most of her life in the town, attending

Ipswich School of Art Ipswich School of Art (ISA) was an art school in Ipswich, Suffolk. It was founded as the Ipswich School of Science and Art which opened on 10 January 1859. It continued to have an independent existence until 1997, when it was absorbed by the Uni ...

and then the

Westminster School of Art The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. History The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum. H. M. Bateman described ...

graduating in 1914. She was co-founder of the Chelsea Illustrators Club through which former students exhibited and sold their art. From 1929 until the 1960s she illustrated the Little Grey Rabbit books, as well as other children's books. She also wrote and illustrated her own books of the "dressed animal" type, notably the Curly Cobbler series. She illustrated a number of religious-themed books such as ''A Sunday Book for Children'' (1954) and ''Little Lamb of Bethlehem'' (1957). She married Sir

Edward Grimwood Mears Sir Edward Grimwood Mears (21 January 1869 - 20 May 1963) is best known for his role as secretary of the Dardanelles Commission, for which he received a knighthood, and his later role as a British Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature a ...

, in 1951. Her step-grandson was the physician

Alex Paton Alexander Paton (13 August 1869 – 1935) was a Scottish footballer who played in the Football League for Bolton Wanderers in the 1890s as a right half; he featured for the club over 200 times in the league, as well as on the losing side in the ...

References

External links

Illustration of "The Witch's House"
Victoria and Albert collection. 1892 births 1982 deaths 20th-century English women artists Artists from Ipswich Alumni of the Westminster School of Art British women illustrators English children's book illustrators English children's writers English illustrators {{UK-illustrator-stub