Nancy Catford (Stone)

Other names: Anna Edith

Born 31 August 1905
Died 8 April 1992

Active: 1924 - 1970

Country of birth and death: England

Sculptor, wood carver, potter's modeller, toy designer, puppet maker and performer, author, illustrator

Born in Stamford Hill, London. She was the daughter of Robert Henry Catford (born c.1867 in Clevedon, Somerset), a stockbroker. Initially she worked for a toy-making workshop in Welwyn Garden City (1924-30) and collaborated with a group called The Hertfordshire Puppeteers for whom she carved a number of glove puppets. The Hertfordshire Puppeteers were interested in traditional country dance and puppets, they performed regularly in villages throughout the country during the early 1920s. Catford’s glove puppets were mainly stock characters which appeared in many different plays. She later said she was more interested in making the puppets than performing with them, but she did travel extensively with the puppet company and helped perform plays written by the local drama group.

From 1928 Catford began experimenting with wood carving. She studied the technique with Stanley Parker (1875-1946) of Letchworth, at St Albans School of Art and then the School of Art Wood Carving in South Kensington (precise dates unknown). (Parker was the brother of Richard Barry Parker (1867-1947), architect, who with Raymond Unwin (1863-1940) won the competition to produce a master plan for Letchworth Garden City, Herts.)

Between 1935 and 1940 Catford modelled animals and other figurines for Gray's Pottery, she also worked free-lance for a number of other pottery firms in Stoke. She was the author and illustrator of eight children's books between 1934-39, including 'Robert the Rabbit', 'Ernest the Elephant' and 'Maurice the Mouse'.

During the Second World War, Catford worked first for the Polish Relief Fund and Friends Relief Service (1940). She was then made head of the Nursery School Association Toy and Equipment Workshop (1941-44), afterwards becoming a designer for the Nursery School Equipment Educational Supply Association (1945-50). Meanwhile Catford continued to exhibit her own work, for example she showed a carving in mahogany of an elephant priced at £20.0.0 in 'Sculpture in the Home', an event organised by the Artists’ International Association at Heal’s, Tottenham Court Road, 4-27 October 1945.

From 1953-55 she wrote and provided illustrations for Hulton's and the Daily Mail's children's publications. Based on this work she wrote a number of 'How To' manuals on 'Making Nursery Toys' (London, 1944), 'Modelling with Plastic', (London, 1951) and 'Making your own Party Decorations' (London, 1951). In 1953 Catford had married the industrial designer, J. [Jack] R. Stone and together they worked on a number of projects for which she provided carvings between 1953 and 1970: Portsmouth Guildlhall; Solihull Civic Centre; Burnley Building Society and Spiller's. She also made some carvings for Devenport Naval Barracks. Catford was a member of the Red Rose Guild of Craftsmen from 1932 and of the Society of Wildlife Artists from 1962.

This record includes information supplied by the artist's nephew, John Capper including a short CV written by Catford c.1970 and details of her places of work and residence based on correspondence with the artist. There is also some information about Nancy Catford and images of her work at http://www.grayspottery.co.uk/designer-catford.htm (accessed 4 April 2013). Philippa Parker provided detailed information about the career of Stanley Parker based on information drawn from Mervyn Miller "Letchworth-the first garden city" 2ed. 2002, p.66 and Parker's Obituary [Letchworth] "Citizen" newspaper, 21.6.46. Paul Niblett, who has co-written the Grays Pottery site, submitted the information about Catford exhibiting the mahogany elephant (V&A Archive reference AAD/1978/2/329). Information about her puppet-making activities is based on research by Douglas Hayward and Ian Denny which can be found at http://www.iandenny.co.uk/page43.htm (accessed (18 December 2013).

Wealth at death: £125,000 0s. 0d.
Not exceeding this amount
Probate date: 28 May 1992

Citing this record

'Nancy Catford (Stone)', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1220274818, accessed 25 Oct 2020]