Anne Crawford Acheson CBE, ARBSA
Other names: Annie
Born 5 August 1882
Died 13 March 1962
Active: 1900 - 1950
Country of birth and death: Ireland
Sculptor, medallist, war work developing splints
Born in Portadown, County Armagh. Her father was John Acheson, a pharmacist, also a partner in J & J Acheson (a linen business), and later a JP. In 1885 Anne's parents built their own house looking onto the River Bann at a cost of £1,070. There were seven children (5 girls and 2 boys) of which Anne was the fifth. She was educated at Victoria College, Belfast and the Royal University of Ireland where she studied modern literature. Afterwards Acheson attended the Royal College of Art (c.1906-10) having been awarded a free studentship in 1906. For the first two and a half years she studied sculpture under Edouard Lanteri and then did an additional year in the Design School.
On completion of her studies Anne visited Italy with Grace Barber, travelling to Rome, Assisi, Florence and Venice, before taking up an appointment as a teacher in a secondary school in Putney in the autumn of 1910. She was made full-time after one year and received a salary of £160 per annum for working four and a half days per week. When Acheson left Putney in 1913, she continued to take private pupils though she did not take another teaching post. A year later, both Acheson's parents died and Anne received a bequest of £3,000 (based on her father's will which is available online via Public Record Office of Northern Ireland).
In 1915 Acheson joined the Surgical Requisites Association (SRA), an adjunct of the Queen Mary's London Needlework Guild at 17 Mulberry Walk in Chelsea. Anne worked with the sculptor Elinor Hallé to design and improve a papier maché splint made out of sugar bags. Acheson also developed a bath out of waterproofed papier maché for bathing injured limbs in a saline solution and a number of specialist arm, shoulder and adjustable splints. In 1919 she was awarded a CBE for her work.
Acheson exhibited at the Paris Salon and in Rome, Brussels, Stockholm and Toronto, as well as showing work regularly at the Royal Academy in London. She was a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and participated in the British Empire Exhibition of 1924. Acheson died in Lagan Valley Hospital, Lisburn, Antrim, Ireland.
Wealth at death: £5,259 11s. 0d.
Effects in England
Probate date: 28 September 1962
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Depicted in Miss A. C. Acheson
The Pixie
1910
Echo Mocking
1914
The Leprechaun
1914
Sally
1923 (Circa)
Trio
1924 (Presumed)
Lead Mask for Garden Decoration
1924 (Presumed)
The Gossamer Thread
1924 (Presumed)
Tangle (Pewter Statuette)
1926
Flora M'Flimsy
1927
Mischief - Design for Garden Figure
1927
Gertrude Bell
1926 (Circa) - 1929 (Circa)
Harriet Emily (Lead Garden Figure)
1930
Harriet Glasgow Acheson, Bronze Medallion
1934
Saint Brigit (Glazed Pottery)
1936
Mother and Child (Glazed Pottery)
1936
Harriet Emily
1938
Fountain figure
1944 (Circa)
The Sacred Bull
1948
Virginia
1949
Squirrel
1950 (Presumed)
Locations
Address Glenavy House Glenavy | View on map
This was the address given for her in probate records
Address 34 Great Charles Street Birmingham | View on map
1888
Address 8 Kensington Crescent Kensington Road London | View on map
1910 (Circa) - 1914 (Circa)
Anne Acheson and Jess Lawson both lived here in 1911, they shared the house with Mary Alexander Chambers (art student), Nora Marie Simmons (art student), and Grace Eleanor Barber (art student)
Address 12 Redcliffe Road South Kensington London | View on map
1915 (Circa) - 1916 (Circa)
Address Woodway Cherry Hill Drive Birmingham | View on map
1939 (Presumed) - 1950
Address 9 Sydney Close London | View on map
1944 (Circa)
Studio located at 6 Wentworth Studios Manresa Road London | View on map
1920 (Circa) - 1923 (Circa)
Studio located at 1 King's House Studios King's Road London SW10 | View on map
1924 (Circa) - 1935 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The Annual Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (Twenty-eighth London Exhibition), 1922
'T. C. Dugdale, Esq.'
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Eleventh Exhibition, 1916
'1914'
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1910
'The Pixie'
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1914
Multiple works
Exhibited at Royal Society of Artists Birmingham Autumn Exhibition, 1924
'The Gossamer Thread'
Exhibited at Society of Staffordshire Artists Sixteenth Annual Exhibition (City of Stoke on Trent Museums and Art Gallery, Hanley), 1950
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, Inaugural Exhibition of the Work of Living British Artists, 1927
'A Small Conceit'
Exhibited at City of Manchester Art Gallery, Exhibition of the Work of Living British Artists, 1927
'Tangles'
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Sixty-Second Annual Exhibition, 1923
Multiple works
Exhibited at Exhibition of The Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, 1950
1950
Exhibited at Exhibition of The Ulster Academy of Arts, 1949
1949
Exhibited at Exhibition of The Ulster Academy of Arts, 1948
1948
Exhibited at Exhibition of The Ulster Academy of Arts, 1936
1936
Exhibited at Exhibition of The Ulster Academy of Arts, 1934
1934
Exhibited at 46th Annual Exhibition of The Belfast Art Society, 1927
1927
Exhibited at 49th Annual Exhibition of The Belfast Art Society, 1930
1930
Exhibited at 45th Annual Exhibition of The Belfast Art Society, 1926
1926
Exhibited at Children in Sculpture (Royal Society of British Sculptors), 1947
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1911 - 1949
Exhibited 22 times, about thirty works in all (a mixture statuettes, portrait heads and bronze or lead figures for the garden)
Exhibited at Palace of Arts Empire Exhibition Scotland, 1938
1938
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, One-Hundred-and-Eighteenth, 1944
1944
Selection committee member of Lady Feodora Gleichen Fund (Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Society of British Sculptors), 1922-1951
1939
Won prize Lady Feodora Gleichen Fund (Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Society of British Sculptors), 1922-1951
1938
Awarded the prize for a statuette entitled 'Thief'.
Institutional and Business Connections
Associate member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1923 - 1938 (Presumed)
Became fellow in 1938.
Employed at Doulton and Co. Limited
1900 (Presumed) - 1950 (Presumed)
Flower painter.
Fellow of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1938 - 1962
Died in 1962.
Member of council Royal Society of British Sculptors
1944
Student at Belfast School of Art
1904 (Circa) - 1906
Dates of study from Llewellyn (2010).
Studied at Royal College of Art (including National Art Training School)
1906 - 18 January 1910
'Annie Acheson' is featured in the College's 'Register of R. C. A. Students' (1907-1924), p. 20. (Annie was her childhood name which she dropped in favour of Anne while studying in London) She was a student of the R. C. A. for three years and three months and her profession upon leaving the College on the 18 January 1910, is described as Art Mistress of a Secondary School in Putney, London. Based on Llewellyn (2010) Acheson was awarded a studentship to the RCA in 1906. She received her diploma in modelling after two and a half years study in 1909. Acheson stayed another year in the Design school having already acquired the necessary skills in wood carving, metal work, enamelling and embroidery.
Personal and Professional Connections
Nominated by William Ernest Reynolds-Stephens
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
Nominated by Phoebe Gertrude Stabler
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
Shared house with Jess Lawson Peacey
1911 (Circa)
both listed at same address in 1911 Census and both teaching for LCC. They were fellow students and friends from about 1908 or earlier [based on Llewellyn, 2010].
Studied under Edouard Lanteri
1907 (Circa) - 1910
Worked with Elinor Jessie Marie Hallé
1915
They worked together at the Surgical Requisites Association, an adjunct of the Queen Mary's London Needlework Guild at 17 Mulberry Walk in Chelsea. They developed a papier-mache splint from sugar bags.
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Teacher of Art in Secondary School', employer: London County Council [this was the County Secondary School in Putney according to Lelwellyn (2010)].
Sources
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Eleventh Exhibition.
1916
p. 79
Catalogue of The 46th Annual Exhibition of The Belfast Art Society, Municipal Art Gallery, Belfast, 1927
1927
p. 16, 17, 21
Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Work of Living British Artists
1927
Cat. No. 380, pp. 36, 37
Catalogue of the Inaugural Exhibition of the Work of Living British Artists, Leeds City Art Gallery 1927
1927 (Presumed)
Cat. No. 345, pp. 23, 24
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN134 RG78PN4 RD2 SD1 ED47 SN18
Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20th Century, 1996
1996
p. 11
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Anne Crawford Acheson
Probate Date: 28 Sep 1962
Death Date: 13 Mar 1962
Death Place: Antrim, Ireland
Registry: Belfast AND Name: John Acheson
Probate Date: 21 Aug 1914
Death Date: 13 Apr 1914
Death Place: Armagh, Ireland
Registry: Armagh
UK effects £17. 10s. Ireland effects £23,835 12s. 11d.
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Palace of Arts
Empire Exhibition
Scotland
1938
The Fine Art Section of the Empire Exhibition
1938
Register of Royal College of Art Students, 1907-1924 Royal College of Art
1907
p. 20.
Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, Catalogue of the Eighty-Fifth Annual Exhibition, 1914 RHA Annual Exhibition Catalogues
1914
p. 37 (526-27, 535)
Royal Society of Artists Birmingham Autumn Exhibition, 1924
1924
p. 14.
The First Lady of Mulberry Walk: the life and times of the Irish sculptress Anne Acheson
2010
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
2008
The Times, Friday, Mar 16, 1962; pg. 15; Issue 55341; col B
Miss Anne Acheson Portrait Sculpture And Garden Figures
Category: Obituaries
Citing this record
'Anne Crawford Acheson CBE, ARBSA', 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=msib7_1205418483, accessed 04 Oct 2023]
