The Artist’s Daughter: A Fictionalised Memoir of Ellen Churchyard

Nearly 200 works by Thomas Churchyard and his variously talented children tell the story of provincial Suffolk just before the advent of photography. Often, the pictures are completely recognisable today and always very familiar to those who love Suffolk. They were drawn from the heart, created for love of the place and nothing more. Like the pages of a diary they show fragments of lives, mementoes of days-out, hand-drawn holiday ‘snaps’; a sketch stopped in mid-flow by raindrops or signs of a broken nib; each is alive with the voice of Thomas Churchyard.The fictionalised memoir of Ellen Churchyard, eldest daughter of Thomas, shows us her family and their friends, their lives and talents. Through her we meet Woodbridge, during the middle years of C19 when the market town was really alive; a hub for the surrounding countryside, connected to the world beyond, by the river and later by the railway. As a young girl Ellen learned to care for her family, as her mother’s health deteriorated. She earned the love and admiration of Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, who recognised her talents and strengths. She was loved and admired by Edward Fitzgerald; a much more critical judge of character. Her story unites them all.