EILEEN MAYO 1906 - 1994

Eileen Mayo was born in Norwich in 1906 and  spent the early 1930’s travelling, and upon returning to London, she married Dr Richard Gainsborough in 1936. 

At the outbreak of the second world war the family moved out of London to Mannings Heath in West Sussex and then to Fletching where Dr Gainsborough ran three GP practices, the main practice in
Fletching with subsidiary surgeries at Maresfield and Nutley.  Eileen was a Manager for
the practices.

As well as working for her husband in his surgery she was a very accomplished artist
in her own right  and took inspiration from local farms and views etc.  In 1941 she
painted Fletching Mill which was close to their home - [oil on board 490 x 595].

The corn mill was driven by water power and was believed to have been working until 1939.  It was situated on the River Ouse, one mile south of Fletching Village.  The painting [above] shows the curved brick of the bridge in the foreground which was knocked down by a tank crossing the bridge during the war.  The mill was demolished after the war, around 1951.

This photo from Hylda Rawlings shows the Mill from a different angle.  There were often disagreements between Lord Sheffield and Sir Spencer Maryon-Wilson [of Searles]  and the  story is told that Lord Sheffield refused to allow Maryon-Wilson to watch his cricket matches at Sheffield Park so Maryon-Wilson watched them from the top of Fletching  Mill tower through a telescope.

In 1943 Eileen Mayo did a preparatory sketch and working drawing in pencil and
wax crayon of a field  showing  stooks of corn sheaves in the fields surrounding
Fletching to the north of the Mill.   Although a great deal of careful planning was put
into it, it appears the lithograph was never realised.  It is a good example of her
working methods showing the careful squaring up and detailed notes she made
about colour and shading etc.

In 1948 Eileen did a watercolour study of a fig tree at Stroods [the Doctor’s surgery] and this was only discovered hidden behind the painting of Fletching Mill when the Mill painting was sent for cleaning, prior to being put on display at the Towner Gallery.   The painting had lain hidden for 70 years and therefore the colours were still very vibrant.

Eileen in the garden of Stroods, c1948.

Eileen moved to Australian 1952 and then to New Zealand. 
She was made a Dame of the British Empire for Services to the Arts, awarded just
three days before she died on the 4th January 1994.

My thanks to her step-son John Gainsborough and to the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne for their help. 
Thanks also to Hylda Rawlings.

Article kindly provided by Jill Rolfe