Mary McMurtrie

Mary McMurtrie DA SBA (26 June 1902 – 1 November 2003) was a Scottish botanical artist and horticulturalist. She wrote and illustrated several books of wild flowers and became internationally recognised for her botanical art. She continued painting and publishing until she was over a hundred years old, becoming recognised as the oldest working artist in Britain.

Early life Mary Margaret McMurtrie (née Mitchell), daughter of George and Jeannie Mitchell, was born in Skene in rural Aberdeenshire where her father was the headmaster of the local school. She was educated at Albyn School for Girls in Aberdeen.

Horticulture She married Rev John McMurtrie (son of Rev John McMurtrie and grandson of Very Rev John McMurtrie), the minister of Skene, in 1924 and the couple had four children. In her book Where the Apple Ripens, Jessie Kesson recalled her childhood memory of the exotic Himalayan cowslips in the McMurtries' manse garden at the time when they befriended the girl from the nearby orphanage. In 1960 she bought 16th-century Balbithan House near Kintore, Aberdeenshire, a country mansion which she completely restored. She, along with such gardeners as Margery Fish and Gladys Emma Peto, were the only people who kept some old varieties of garden flowers. She did a lot of painting when holidaying in the Algarve, and in Kenya where her daughter lived. McMurtrie exhibited her paintings in local art galleries and eventually became internationally recognised as one of Britain's leading botanical painters. At the request of the author, she painted the illustrations for Roy Genders' 1975 book Growing Old-fashioned Flowers.

McMurtrie retired from running the nursery and moved back to Aberdeen where she did the illustrations and text for her first book of flowers, Wild Flowers of Scotland, published when she was 80. Scots Roses of Hedgerows and Wild Gardens was published in 1998 and Scottish Wild Flowers in 2001.

Mary McMurtrie completed the illustrations for Old Cottage Pinks shortly before her death on 1 November 2003 at the age of 101. She had continued to paint until the last few weeks of her life and had just completed proof reading her latest book.

Publications Author / illustrator

Illustrator