Ruth Gervis (13 August 1894 – 26 October 1988) was a British illustrator. Together with her sister

Noel Streatfeild Mary Noel Streatfeild OBE (24 December 1895 – 11 September 1986) was an English author, best known for children's books including the "Shoes" books, which were not a series (though some books made references to others). Random House, the U.S. ...

she illustrated the 1936 book ''

Ballet Shoes A ballet shoe, or ballet slipper, is a lightweight shoe designed specifically for ballet dancing. It may be made from soft leather, canvas, or satin, and has flexible, thin full or split soles. Traditionally, women wear pink shoes and men wear w ...

''. Her other book illustrations include ''

The Buttercup Farm Family ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

'', '' The Pole Star Family'', '' The Saucy Jane Family'' and '' The Very Big Secret''.

Biography

Gervis was born to William Streatfeild and Janet Venn and was the eldest sister of

. Ruth suffered from asthma and was sent to live for four years with her Streatfeild grandparents where she was looked after by a nurse, rather than stay in the damp

Amberley Amberley may refer to: Places Australia *Amberley, Queensland, near Ipswich, Australia *RAAF Base Amberley, a Royal Australian Air Force military airbase United Kingdom * Amberley, Gloucestershire, England * Amberley, Herefordshire, England ...

Vicarage. In 1902 when her parents moved to

St Leonards-on-Sea St Leonards-on-Sea (commonly known as St Leonards) is a town and seaside resort in the borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. It has been part of the borough since the late 19th century and lies to the west of central Hastings. The origin ...

, she was able to return to the family home. There, she also attended the

Hastings College Hastings College is a private Presbyterian college in Hastings, Nebraska. History The college was founded in 1882 by a group of men and women seeking to establish a Presbyterian college. Academics The college offers more than 40 underg ...

and St Leonard's College and

Laleham Laleham is a village on the River Thames, in the borough of Spelthorne, about west of central London, England. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames a ...

school in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

. Before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in 1911 her family relocated again while she herself was hired as a nurse during the war and also helped produce two plays called ''Vingt-en-Un'' and ''When Daydreams End'' with her sister Noel in 1915. After the war Gervis continued teaching and exhibited widely and then took over the studio and pupils of her original teacher, Miss McMunn. She married Shorland Gervis (known as Shor) who a science master at the

Boys' School Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, same-sex education, same-gender education, and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in se ...

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo (South Somerset), River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish include ...

, where they lived together at Nortons, The Avenue. She continued children's art classes at home and also took ladies sketching. Ruth became more widely known as a successful illustrator of children's books such as those by Paula Harris, Mary Treadgold, Kitty Barne and the Caravan Family series by

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

. She seized the chance of illustrating

's book ''

'' in 1936 when Mabel Carey, children's editor for Dent and Sons Publishers, suggested she might be suitable without realising she was in fact Noel's older sister. The book is still in print although Gervis's drawings now appear only in the Puffin paperback; the originals are held by the Centre for the Children's Book. She is also known for her other book illustrations such as ''

'', '' The Pole Star Family'', '' The Saucy Jane Family'' and '' The Very Big Secret''. In 1931 Gervis became a founder member of Sherborne art club and later its Chairman and President. In 1941 she was asked to teach the art at

Sherborne School Sherborne School is a full-boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 located beside Sherborne Abbey in the Dorset town of Sherborne. The school has been in continuous operation on the same site for over 1,300 years. It was founded in 705 AD by Ald ...

as the art master was ill; he subsequently died and by 1941 she was in charge of the art department where she remained until 1953. She moved to a similar post at Lord Digby's school in 1953 until she retired in 1966. After her husband Shor died in 1968, Gervis became a founder member of the Museum at Sherborne, participating on its Council and taking a supporting role for twenty years. In 1988 when ill health became a problem, she moved to

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

to be near her daughter, but died only a few days after moving into St. Luke's nursing home. The museum in Sherborne still holds a variety of examples of her artwork, both in the public gallery and the reserve collection. One box of archive materials for Gervis's work is held by Seven Stories Archive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gervis, Ruth 1894 births 1988 deaths 20th-century English women artists British women illustrators English illustrators Streatfeild family People from Frant