Mary Newbery Sturrock, 1892-1985

When she was six years old, Sturrock carried the ceremonial key for the opening of the Mackintosh building at Glasgow School of Art, which had been commissioned by her father, the School’s director, Francis Newbery. She would later study there, specialising in embroidery, as her mother Jessie had, and botanical illustration. Sturrock was a close friend of the artist Cecile Walton and her husband Eric Robertson; one of Walton’s major early paintings is of Eric and Mary. She became close to Charles Rennie Mackintosh during the First World War when he lived near the Newberys in Walberswick, and drew and painted flowers alongside him. She also worked in ceramics, ink drawing and embroidery.