Mabel A. Royds

After working with Walter Sickert in Paris at the turn of the century, Mabel Royds taught for some years at Havergal College, Toronto, in Canada. On returning to the British Isles, she joined Frank Morley Fletcher, J.D. Ferguson and S. Peploe at Edinburgh College of Art. In 1913 Mabel Royds married the Scottish etcher E.S. Lumsden, although she continued to work under her maiden name throughout her life. She travelled widely throughout the orient with her husband and for many years her work reflected the scenes of their travels.

Upon their marriage in November 1913, Mabel Royds and E.S. Lumsden set off on a protracted honeymoon destined for India, where the couple arrived in December that year. After a brief return to Scotland in 1914 they departed, once again for India, where E.S. Lumsden joined military service for the war. Mabel remained with him until 1917, when she returned to Scotland to give birth to their daughter Marjorie.

In her later years, Royds’ woodcuts concentrated upon flower studies and some religious subjects. Mabel A. Royds produced a total of 61 known colour woodcuts. [more]