Ursula Frances Elinor Mommens (née Darwin, formerly Trevelyan; 20 August 1908 – 30 January 2010) was an English

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US *Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska *Potters, New Jerse ...

. Mommens studied at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, under

William Staite Murray William Staite Murray (1881–1962) was an English studio potter. Biography He was born in Deptford, London and attended pottery classes at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts from 1909 - 1912. He worked with Cuthbert Hamilton, a member of t ...

, and later worked with

Michael Cardew Michael Ambrose Cardew (1901–1983), was an English studio pottery, studio potter who worked in West Africa for twenty years. Early life Cardew was born in Wimbledon, London, the fourth child of Arthur Cardew, a civil servant, and Alexandra ...

at Winchcombe Pottery and Wenford Bridge Pottery. Born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

and raised in

Downe Downe, formerly Down (), is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley, which formed part of the historical county of Kent until 1965, and is beyond London's contiguous urban area. Charles Darwin lived ...

(then in Kent, now in Bromley), she was the daughter of

Bernard Darwin Bernard Richard Meirion Darwin CBE JP (7 September 1876 − 18 October 1961) was a golf writer and high-standard amateur golfer. A grandson of the British naturalist Charles Darwin, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Biography B ...

and his wife the engraver

Elinor Monsell Elinor Mary Darwin (née Monsell; 1879–1954) was an Irish born illustrator, engraver and portrait painter. Her illustrations were included in several of her husband, Bernard Darwin's books for children. Personal life Elinor Mary Monsell was ...

. Her brother was Sir Robert Vere Darwin. She was the great-granddaughter of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

and the great-great-granddaughter of the potter

Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indu ...

. She married first

Julian Trevelyan Julian Otto Trevelyan (20 February 1910 – 12 July 1988) was an English artist and poet. Early life Trevelyan was the only child to survive to adulthood of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and his wife Elizabeth van der Hoeven. His grandfather wa ...

; their son is the film-maker Philip Trevelyan. Her second husband was Norman Mommens. Mommens lived and worked in

South Heighton South Heighton is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is south of Lewes. In the 1890s the village's population grew from less than 100 to over 500 after a cement manufacturing plant opened nea ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, making both wood and gas-fired functional

stoneware Stoneware is a broad class of pottery fired at a relatively high temperature, to be impervious to water. A modern definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire ...

using a clay body she developed herself with ash glazes. She lived to the age of 101.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mommens, Ursula Frances 1908 births 2010 deaths 20th-century English women artists 21st-century English women artists Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from Cambridge Artists from the London Borough of Bromley English potters English women ceramicists Darwin–Wedgwood family People from Downe People from Lewes District English women centenarians Women potters