Maud Frances Sambourne Messel (5 August 1875 – 8 March 1960) MBE was a British artist and horticulturalist. She was awarded an MBE for her work with the Red Cross in World War I.
Maud Frances Sambourne was born on 5 August 1875 in Kensington, the daughter of Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne and Marion Herapath Sambourne.[1] She grew up in Sambourne House.[2]
Samboure had lessons from artist Blanche Vicat-Cole and published her first drawing in Punch in 1892, followed by drawings in Pall Mall Magazine in 1894. She also provided illustrations for a pair of books of fantastic stories: Fantasies (1896) by Mabel Nembhard and Cherriwink: a fairy story (1897) by Rachel Penn.[1]
She married wealthy German-Jewish stockbroker Leonard Charles Rudolph Messel OBE in 1898.[1][3]
During World War I, Maud Messel was commandant of the Knowle Auxiliary Hospital, a 20-bed military hospital, in Balcombe, West Sussex near the Mussel's country home Balcombe House. Hundreds of wounded soldiers were treated at the Knowle hospital.[4]
At Balcombe House and their later country home Nymans, Messel created extensive and widely praised rose gardens filled with old garden roses.[3]
Maud Frances Sambourne died on 8 March 1960.[3]
Personal life
Maud and Leonard Messel had three children:
References
