NUNN, Mary Cecilia

1864 - 1952

Mary Cecilia Nunn was born at Ipswich on 25 July, and baptised at St Mary le Tower church, Ipswich on 13 October 1864, youngest daughter of Robert Lindley Nunn and his first wife Catherine Jane Stutter (1827-1884), who married at Bury St Edmund's, Suffolk on 24 June 1852, Mary was the sister of Alexandra Louise Nunn. In 1881, Mary was a 16-year-old pupil boarder at Old Hove House School, Hove, Sussex and on returning to Ipswich became a member of the Ipswich Art Club 1886-1893. A painter in oil of portraits and landscapes and exhibited at the Ipswich Art Club from Westerfield Road, Ipswich, in 1886 'Moonlight', in 1887 'Portrait' and in 1893 'Westerfield Road, Ipswich' all oils. She married at St Mary le Tower Church, Ipswich on 1 August 1895, Revd William Arthur French (1852-31 May 1938), curate at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich, and rector of Little Blakenham-with-Nettlestead, near Ipswich 1895-1934. In 1911, 46-year-old Mary Cecilia was living at The Rectory, Little Blakenham with her 58-year-old husband William, a clerk in holy order, born at Paddington, London, with their 14-year-old son Arthur Cecil; their daughter Evelyn Daphne Alexandra [Awdry], who was baptised at Little Blakenham on 6 August 1899 was staying with her uncle, Alfred Townsend Cobbold at the nearby Bramford House, near Ipswich. In 1935 they moved to Wayside, Malmesbury Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire where her husband died in 1938 and was buried at Little Blakenham. In 1939 Mary Cecilia French was living at 'Cotens', Rowdens Hill, Chippenham and was of Wayside, Malmesbury Road, Chippenham when she died at Clevedon House Nursing Home, Chippenham on 2 August 1952.