Agnes Mabel Shaw (1898-1991)

Mabel Shaw (1898-1991) was born in the Cambridge village of Fen Drayton.  Mabel had a fascinating life, she was a talented musician and after the First World War secured a job as a music and elocution teacher at Manchester School for Girls. Whilst working there she met Jane Saunders who taught art at the school. Jane Saunders and another art teacher called Hannah Ritchie lived together in Manchester during the mid-1920s. They were close friends of the famous artist Frances Hodgkins. At the time Hodgkins was a struggling and was given lodgings and financial help by Saunders and Ritchie (who appear together as the subjects of one of Hodgkins’ most famous paintings). More here.