Emily "Milly" Maria Eardley Childers (26 February 1866 – 8 February 1922) was an English painter of the later

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

and the early 20th century. She is best known for her portrait ''

The Terrace, 1909 ''The Terrace, 1909'' is a landscape painting by Milly Childers showing the members' terrace of the Palace of Westminster with its view of the River Thames looking towards Lambeth Bridge. It is held by the Parliamentary Art Collection. Paint ...

'' at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

Early life and family

Childers was born in 1866 at 17, Princes Garden,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, into a prominent political family. She was the youngest of eight children of

Hugh Childers Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (25 June 1827 – 29 January 1896) was a British Liberal statesman of the nineteenth century. He is perhaps best known for his reform efforts at the Admiralty and the War Office. Later in his career, as Chancel ...

and his wife, Emily Walker. Her father was a Member of Parliament and Cabinet minister. In 1868, her father was appointed

First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...

under

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

. Childers' mother died in 1875, when Milly was 9 years old. Four years later, her father remarried, to Katherine Anne Elliot (''née'' Gilbert) in Paris. She was the daughter of

Ashurst Gilbert Ashurst Turner Gilbert (14 May 1786 – 21 February 1870) was an England, English churchman and academic, Principal (academia), Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, from 1822 and bishop of Chichester. Life The son of Thomas Gilbert of Ratclif ...

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...

and the widow of Hon. Gilbert Elliot, son of the 2nd Earl Minto.

Career

Childers began exhibiting her art around 1890. After her father's 1892 retirement from public service, father and daughter travelled together through England and France; Milly Childers painted landscapes, and church interiors. Her father's social and political connections brought his daughter some commissioned work, including as a restorer and copyist for

Lord Halifax Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as the Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and the Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a British Conservative politician of the 1930s. He h ...

Temple Newsam Temple Newsam (historically Temple Newsham), is a Tudor- Jacobean house in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. The house is a Grade I listed building, one of nine Leeds Museums and Galleries sites and ...

Liz Rideal Marie Elisabeth Chichester Rideal (born 1954 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) is a British artist, art historian, educator and author. She is a Professor in Fine Art in the Painting Department at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College Lo ...

, ''Mirror, Mirror: Self-Portraits by Women Artists'', New York, Watson-Guptill, 2002; p. 44. Childers exhibited her work at the

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to 197 ...

at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

in Chicago, Illinois. Her landscape ''

'' depicts the Members' Terrace outside the

overlooking the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. Featuring all men in

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

dress, it captures a time when women were barred from holding office or voting. It is now in the

Parliamentary Art Collection The Parliamentary Art Collection is a collection of around 8,500 artworks held by the United Kingdom Parliament. The works are jointly owned by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Approximately 80% of the collection is displayed at th ...

. Other prominent paintings are the portrait of her father and a self-portrait from 1889. Others of her better-known works are ''Children Playing Hoops in the Street, Arromanches'' and
The Pannier market, Barnstaple
'. Her style shows influences from the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...

. Childers was the last artist to paint the interior of the original

Reims Cathedral Notre-Dame de Reims (; ; meaning "Our Lady of Reims"), known in English as Reims Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral in the French city of the same name, the seat of the Archdiocese of Reims. The cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and wa ...

, which was destroyed in 1914 during the First World War. She died in 1922, aged 55, at Hampstead General Hospital in London. She was eulogised in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' as "an artist of rare ability, and of a charming personality."

Gallery

References

External links

*
British Women Painters: 1893 Exposition''The Terrace''
(1909 painting of the terrace at the UK

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

)
Photo of Childers and her work
(

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

, London) 1866 births 1922 deaths Milly English people of French descent English people of Portuguese-Jewish descent Painters from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea People from Kensington 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women painters 19th-century English women painters {{UK-painter-19thC-stub