Pamela Drew

Pamela Drew (11 September 1910 – 11 June 1989) was a British artist known for her paintings of marine and aviation subjects. Although Drew was born in the north of England she spent considerable periods of her career in Ireland.

Biography Drew was born in Burnley and was the eldest daughter of John M. Drew, a well-known calico painter. At an early age Pamela Drew took art classes at Christchurch in Hampshire before studying at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London, where her younger sister Diana Drew also studied. In 1928, Pamela went to Paris to study under Roger Chastel. She exhibited in 1936 with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. The following year Drew married the fourth Baron Rathdonnell and took up residence at Lisnavagh House at Rathvilly in County Carlow. After the War, Drew participated in the founding exhibition of the Society of Marine Artists, later the Royal Society of Marine Artists, RSMA. The Fitting-out Basin, Harland & Wolff, Drew's RSMA diploma artwork is now held by the National Maritime Museum. In 1954 she returned to Belfast to record the launching of the Southern Cross and became a member of newly formed Society of Aviation Artists. In 1956 Drew had a solo exhibition of her paintings in London followed by two further solo shows in Nairobi in 1957 and 1958.

Baron Rathdonnell died in 1959 and Drew remarried in 1961, to a Major Hugh Caruthers Massy. Drew continued to paint marine and aviation subjects. Her painting of Sir Francis Chichester arriving in London to complete his round the world voyage on Gipsy Moth IV is held by the Port of London Authority. Although she kept a London address from 1970 to 1980, Drew lived at Ballinatray in County Cork. While living in Ballinatray, Drew held an exhibition of her drawings from East Africa in 1975 at the Cork Arts Society's Galleries. The same venue displayed an exhibition of Drew's aviation paintings in 1978. Further exhibitions of her work were held at Málaga in Spain in 1982 and at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal the following year.