Honor Earl

Honor Earl (née Maugham; 24 March 1901 –2 February 1996) was a British artist, portrait painter, and philanthropist, who founded the Young Musicians’ Fund to enable talented youth without means to receive musical tuition.

Life Edith Honor Betty Maugham was born in Kensington, London, the second daughter of Frederic Maugham, 1st Viscount Maugham, Lord Chancellor under Neville Chamberlain and brother of writer W. Somerset Maugham. The couple had two sons.

Described as "an eccentric personality", Earl created pastel portraits of some of the era's most famous figures, including Sir John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde, Sir John Clements, Dame Flora Robson, Robert Flemyng, Beverley Nichols, Sir Ralph Richardson and Dame Vera Lynn. She was also a favoured artist of the royal family, painting the Queen Mother, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales. She was a reserve A.R.P. transport driver, secretary of a care committee for schoolchildren, and a night duty volunteer for a mobile canteen at London railway stations. Earl also fundraised for the All-Nations Voluntary Service League, and donated the proceeds from her artwork to a range of societies including the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Child, the Actors’ Orphanage, and The National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Earl continued to work into old age, but said she "looked forward like anything to dying”.