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Helen Mary Elizabeth ,Allingham ,R,W,S
English painter, engraver, illustrator & printmaker
born 1848 - died 1926
Helen Mary Elizabeth Paterson arrived in this world on the 26th of September, 1848 in the small village of Swadlincote, near Burton on Trent in Derbyshire, England. She was the eldest of seven children born to Alexander Henry Paterson, a rural physician, and Mary Chance Herford, daughter of a Manchester wine merchant. Within her first year of her life, the Patersons moved to Altrincham, Cheshire where Helen's father set up a medical practice and the young family grew and prospered. It was during these years that young Helen's interest and talent in art blossomed, inspired by her maternal grandmother Sarah Smith Herford, and especially her aunt Laura Herford, both accomplished artists of their day.

???????? At age thirteen, Helen's carefree childhood was shattered by the death of her father. While battling selflessly to treat local victims during a severe diphtheria epidemic, Dr. Paterson succumbed to the disease himself in May of 1862, along with Helen's three year old sister Isabel. The young family moved shortly thereafter to Birmingham where their Paterson aunts helped provide for them. As Helen's artistic talents continued to grow, she enrolled in the Birmingham School of Design and at age seventeen secured a place in the Royal Female School of Art in London. A year later in 1867 she was accepted on her first try into the prestigious Royal Academy Schools, a door first opened to women by Helen's aunt Laura just a few years before.

Allingham,R,W,S,Helen Mary Elizabeth
Watercolour
10 1/8 x 14 1/8 inches (26 x 36 cm)
Private collection

Allingham,R,W,S,Helen Mary Elizabeth
Watercolour heightened with white
7 7/8 x 9 3/8 inches (20.3 x 24.1 cm)
Private collection

Allingham,R,W,S,Helen Mary Elizabeth
Watercolor and pencil on paper
10 1/8 x 7 1/2 inches (26 x 19.1 cm)
Private collection

Allingham,R,W,S,Helen Mary Elizabeth
Pencil and watercolor
12 1/8 x 8 7/8 inches (30.9 x 22.8 cm)
Private collection

Allingham,R,W,S,Helen Mary Elizabeth
Watercolour and bodycolour
17 1/2 x 14 1/8 inches (44.5 x 36 cm)
Private collection

Allingham,R,W,S,Helen Mary Elizabeth
Oil on canvas
5 5/8 x 4 3/4 inches (14.6 x 12.1 cm)
Private collection