Margaret Lindsay Williams

Margaret Lindsay Williams (18 June 1888 – 4 June 1960) was a Welsh artist who was commissioned to paint portraits of the British royal family, European royalty and American presidents. She was best known as a portrait painter and painted portraits of Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, Princess Margaret and at least five portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. She also painted President Warren Harding, Henry Ford and Field Marshal Slim. Although Williams gained considerable recognition and was famous in her lifetime, her work has been neglected since.

Early life Williams was born in Cardiff, the eldest of the two daughters of Samuel A. Williams, a shipbroker of Barry Docks and Martha Margaret Lindsay, who was of Scottish descent. For some years, from the age of 9, she lived in 9 Windsor Road, Barry.

Williams studied at Cardiff School of Art, winning a gold medal for art in 1904. In 1905 she enrolled at the Pelham Street School of Painting in Kensington to prepare for entering the Royal Academy in 1906. At the Royal Academy School she won several prizes including a gold medal in 1911 for her work The City of Refuge. The following year she won a travel scholarship and, on the advice of John Singer Sargent, spent eighteen months studying in Italy and Holland. Williams did supply the illustrations for a 1915 prose anthology organised by Margaret Lloyd George to support the National Fund for Welsh Troops. The illustrations were of scenes from Welsh legends and Williams returned to this theme for her 1916 Royal Academy picture and for a 1917 illustrated book.

By the mid-1920s Williams had decided to concentrate on portrait work. She received a steady stream of commissions and although based in London, painted the portraits of several generations of prominent Welsh families including several members of the Morgan family, owners of the Cardiff department store, and of the Novello Davies family, including Ivor Novello. In London she had a patron in Lord Riddell, who sat for four portraits and obtained other commissions for her. Most notable of these was the large scale work, St Paul's Cathedral Thanksgiving Service, shown at the Royal Academy in 1933 and painted to mark the re-opening of the Cathedral after five years of restoration work. This large group portrait included both George V and Queen Mary. Williams painted a further portrait of Queen Mary in 1938 for St Thomas' Hospital and among her other royal commissions were portraits of Princess Margaret, presented to South Africa by a businessman in 1937, Prince Charles, Princess Anne and at least five portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, including one of her as a young Princess. Williams visited the United States at least five times during her life and in 1922 was commissioned to paint a near life-size portrait of President Warren Harding. Other notable commissions included portraits of Henry Ford, Field Marshal Slim and the decorative scheme for the Cardiff home of Sir William James.