Elizabeth Parsons

Elizabeth Parsons (née Warren; 27 September 1831 – 28 May 1897) was an English artist and 19th century settler of Victoria, Australia. She was the first women to be elected to the Council of the Victorian Academy of Arts.

Early life

Parsons was born in Isleworth, London, the daughter of William Thomas Warren (1794-1851) and Elizabeth Keens (1794-1867). The couple married in 1820 at St Thomas Le Apostle, London, and had four sons before Elizabeth's birth in 1831.

Elizabeth attended boarding school, and later found work as a governess and then manager of a toy shop owned by her family.

The Parson family emigrated to Australia on the SS Great Britain, leaving Liverpool on 19 March 1870 and arriving 15 May 1870, a voyage of 58 days. Elizabeth was pregnant at the time, and gave birth to her second child, Henry, shortly after arriving.

Artistic career

Parsons originally painted under the name "E.Warren",

While living in London Parsons was taught by Thomas Miles Richardson (1813–90) and James Duffield Harding (1797–1863). During her early life she visited a number of locations to sketch and paint the scenery, including areas of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Wales, Devon and Cornwall as well as at Strathclyde in Scotland. In 1864 she journeyed to Fontainebleau in France. She was an active member of Melbourne's notoriously bohemian Buonarotti Club founded in 1883, and after its demise in 1887 founded a similar club in 1889, known as Stray Leaves, comprising several other ex-Buonarotti members.

Death

Parsons died on 28 May 1897. She is buried at St Kilda Cemetery.

Selected works