Ellen Heaton

Ellen Heaton (1816–1894) was a philanthropist and art collector in Leeds, best known for her patronage of and friendships with members and associates of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the influential art critic John Ruskin.[1]

Ellen Heaton
Blue plaque on her house, 6 Woodhouse Square
Born1816
Died1894
Leeds
MonumentsBlue Plaque
Occupation(s)Arts patron, women's rights campaigner

Biography

Heaton was born on 8 November 1816 at 7 Briggate, Leeds, the daughter and eldest child of John and Ann Heaton.[2] Her younger brother was the physician John Deakin Heaton.[3] Discouraged from continuing her studies by the prevailing antipathy towards female education, she joined Leeds Literary and Philosophical Society (of which her brother was, at one time, President), amongst various other societies and libraries and began to correspond with authors.

After her father's retirement, the family moved to Park Square in Leeds. After her mother's death Heaton became carer to her father. After his death in 1852 she inherited a substantial amount, allowing her independence to travel and to start an art collection. In 1859 she purchased the house at 6 Woodhouse Square where she lived for the rest of her life.[4] Heaton was a notable art collector, whose collection of pre-Raphaelite paintings is now housed at Tate Britain.[5]

In her account of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Fiona MacCarthy describes her as "a wealthy, well-travelled, forthright maiden lady." She was less keen on the more sensual and erotic Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and left Ruskin embarrassed when she refused a Burne-Jones painting he had brought to her attention.[6]

Her house is now the campus of the Swarthmore Education Centre, which holds an annual lecture in her memory.[7]

References
  1. Kevin M. Moist; David Banash (9 May 2013). Contemporary Collecting: Objects, Practices, and the Fate of Things. Scarecrow Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-8108-9114-2.
  2. "ELLEN HEATON (1816-1894) - They Lived in Leeds - Thoresby Society". www.thoresby.org.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  3. Macleod, Diane (2004). "Oxford DNB Article: Heaton, Ellen". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62814. Retrieved 5 March 2016. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. "ELLEN HEATON (1816-1894) - They Lived in Leeds - Thoresby Society". www.thoresby.org.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  5. "Heaton Map". www.heatonmap.mobi. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  6. Fiona MacCarthy (5 March 2012). The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination. Harvard University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-674-06556-7.
  7. "Ellen Heaton Lecture 2012 flyer" (PDF). Swarthmore. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
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