Mary Elizabeth Turner (née Powell; 1854–1907) was an English

embroiderer Embroidery is the craft of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a sewing needle, needle to apply yarn, thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, emb ...

who exhibited her work at the 1890 exposition of the

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society was formed in London in 1887 to promote the exhibition of decorative arts alongside fine arts. The Society's exhibitions were held annually at the New Gallery (London), New Gallery from 1888 to 1890, and roug ...

, for which she wrote an essay on modern embroidery. Identified with the Arts and Crafts Movement, she was a founder with

May Morris Mary "May" Morris (25 March 1862 – 17 October 1938) was an English artisan, embroidery designer, jeweller, socialist, and editor. She was the younger daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and his wife and artists' m ...

of the

Women’s Guild of Arts The Women's Guild of Arts was founded in 1907 by Arts and Crafts artists May Morris and Mary Elizabeth Turner. The organisation offered female artists an alternative to the Art Workers Guild, the artists' association established in 1884 and based ...

. Her father was

Thomas Wilde Powell Thomas Wilde Powell (1818–1897) was an English solicitor and stockbroker, now remembered as a patron of architects and artists. Early life He was the son of James Powell, a bank clerk living in 1830 in Briggate, Leeds in Yorkshire, and his wife ...

, a solicitor and stockbroker who was also a patron of architects and artists. One of her siblings was the artist, copyist and art patron

Christiana Herringham Christiana Jane Herringham, Lady Herringham (née Powell; 1852–1929) was a British artist, copyist, and art patron. She is noted for her part in establishing the National Art Collections Fund in 1903 to help preserve Britain's artistic heritag ...

. Her husband was the architect

Hugh Thackeray Turner Hugh Thackeray Turner (8 March 1853 – 11 December 1937) was an English Arts and Crafts architect and also an amateur china painter. Hugh Turner was born at Foxearth, Essex, England. His father, Rev. John Richard Turner, was a Church of Engla ...

. One of her children, her daughter Christiana Ruth Turner, was the wife of climber

George Mallory George Herbert Leigh Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s. Born in Cheshire, Mallory became a student at Winchester ...

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Further reading