Alice Havers

I've had very limited internet access recently, as my wife has been desperately trying to meet a deadline for some copy-editing work. Hopefully, she'll earn enough to pay for our next holiday in France, so I don't want to get in her way.

However, I managed to take advantage of a quiet moment to scan some images from a Victorian children's book from the 1880s:

This link contains a very brief biographical sketch about the illustrator, Alice Havers, who was a member of the Society of Lady Artists and exhibited her work at the Royal Academy.

The biographical sketch describes her pictures of children as "sentimental" and "pretty awful" and I can't say I passionately disagree, but there is something captivating about her idyllic, pastoral scenes. It isn't just the contrast these images strike with childhood today, but also the reality of the 1880s.

How many Victorian children lived like this:












Alice Mary Havers married the artist Frederick Morgan and they had three children. Sadly, she died in her 40th year, in 1890.