Nicolette Devas

Nicolette Macnamara (later Devas then Shephard, 1 February 1911 – 10 May 1987), was a British artist and author who was active in the work of PEN International.

Biography Macnamara was the eldest of the four children born to Francis Macnamara (1884–1946), an eccentric Irish poet and sometime landowner, and his wife Mary Yvonne Majolier (1886–1973), who was from a family with both Anglo-Irish and French roots. In 1916 Francis Macnamara left his family to follow various political and cultural adventures, including an attempt to establish a 'Republic of Macnamaraland'. His family were left impoverished and they had to move home several times. They stayed in France with the Majolier family for a time and in 1923 they settled at Blashford in the New Forest. Blashford was close to Fryern Court, the large property in Fordingbridge where Augustus John, Dorelia McNeill and an extended group of their friends and family were living the bohemian life. The Macnamara children moved freely between the two households and although Nicolette received little formal education, and did not learn to read until she was twelve, she did gain both an appreciation of art, from the artists at Freyn Court, and also a love of nature, particularly ornithology, from exploring the New Forest. Her only formal education were brief stints at schools in Cannes and Paris, where she had some formal art classes. For several years Macnamara worked studying and sorting birds' eggs at the Natural History Museum. Macnamara's younger sister, Caitlin, married the poet Dylan Thomas.

Published works Bonfire (1958) Nightwatch (1961) Two Flamboyant Fathers (1966) Black Eggs (1970) Susanna's Nightingales (1978) Pegeen Crybaby (1986)