Werburgh Welch

Dame Werburg Welch, OSB (1894–1990), born Eileen Welch, was an English artist and Benedictine nun. Born in Cheltenham, her father was a Catholic convert who sent her to convent schools. She studied art at both Southampton and Bristol before becoming a nun and continued her art work.

Biography Grace Eileen Welch was born on 17 May 1894 in Cheltenham and known as Eileen until she entered religious life. Her father was John Grindon Welch, and her mother, Grace Mary Welch, had four children, of whom Eileen was the eldest.

John Welch had been raised Protestant but converted to Catholicism after reading Cardinal Newman's works. Eileen was sent to Holy Trinity School, Kidderminster, shortly after it was founded, a school run by nuns exiled from France. In 1906, Eileen and her sister were sent to be educated at Convent of the Cross. She went on to study at Southampton School of Art and then at the Bristol Art School, when the family settled in Bristol.