Theresa Thornycroft (1853 – July 1947) was an English

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and painter.

Biography

Born Theresa Georgina Thornycroft, she was a member of the inventive and artistic branch of the

Thornycroft family The Thornycroft family was a notable English family of sculptors, artists and engineers, connected by marriage to the historic Sassoon family. The earliest known mention of the family is stated in George Ormerod George Ormerod (20 October ...

. Her father was sculptor and engineer

Thomas Thornycroft Thomas Thornycroft (19 May 1815 – 30 August 1885) was an English sculptor and engineer. Biography Thornycroft was born at Great Tidnock, near Gawsworth, Cheshire, the eldest son of John Thornycroft, a farmer. He was educated at Congleton ...

(1815–1885) and her mother, sculptor

Mary Francis Mary Elizabeth Francis (née George; born July 1948) is a former British civil servant who focussed primarily on financial and economic policy. She is a non executive Director of Barclays plc, Valaris plc. and PensionBee Group PLC, where she is ...

, who worked under both her maiden name and her married name (1814–1895).The Peerage
/ref> Theresa's brother Sir Hamo Thornycroft RA, sisters Alyce Thornycroft and

Helen Thornycroft Helen Thornycroft (1848 – 11 November 1937) was an English painter and watercolourist of the Victorian era. Biography Born in London, she was a member of the Thornycroft family of sculptors, which included her maternal grandfather John Fr ...

were artists, her brother Sir John Isaac Thornycroft was the founder of the Thornycroft shipbuilding company. and her niece was the naval architect

Blanche Thornycroft Blanche Coules Thornycroft (21 December 1873 – 30 December 1950) was a British naval architect. She was not formally recognised in her lifetime but her role as an "assistant" is now better credited. Life Thornycroft was born in 1873 in Hammers ...

. A gifted artist, she exhibited her paintings at the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

before she turned twenty-two. She married Alfred Ezra Sassoon (1861–1895) of the Jewish

Sassoon family The Sassoon family, known as "Rothschilds of the East" due to the immense wealth they accumulated in finance and trade, are a family of Baghdadi Jewish descent. Originally based in Baghdad, Iraq, they later moved to Bombay, India, and then emig ...

.The Siegfried Sassoon Collection
/ref> Because she was Anglo-Catholic, he was disinherited by the Sassoon family for marrying her. They had three sons: * Michael Thornycroft Sassoon (1884–1969). *

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...

(1886–1967). *Hamo Watts Sassoon (1887–1915). In 1890, Alfred left Theresa, apparently infatuated with the American writer,

Julia Constance Fletcher Julia Constance Fletcher (1853–1938) was an author and playwright who professionally went by the pseudonym of George Fleming. She was born in Brazil in 1853, the daughter of James Cooley Fletcher (1823-1901) and granddaughter of the banker ...

; he continued to see the children occasionally until his death, aged 33, in 1895, in East Sussex, from tuberculosis,http://www.thepeerage.com/p20473.htm#i204721 Beatrice Potter, "re: Lady Isabella Somerset," message to Darryl Roger Lundy, 30 November 2005. Hereinafter cited as "re: Isabella Somerset." and she continued to live in the village of

Matfield Matfield is a small village, part of the civil parish of Brenchley and Matfield, in the Tunbridge Wells borough of Kent, England. Matfield was awarded the title of Kent Village of the Year in 2010. Buildings and amenities St Luke's Church is ...

in Kent, and was immortalised in the memoirs of her son Siegfried.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornycroft, Theresa Thornycroft family 1947 deaths 1853 births English sculptors 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters Sassoon family 20th-century British sculptors 19th-century British sculptors