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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Hester Wagstaff? A waist staff expert, presumably.

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Hester Marion Wagstaff
Born(1892-06-15)15 June 1892
Saffron Walden, England
Died27 January 1953(1953-01-27) (aged 60)
Petersfield, England
Other nameWaggles[1]
EducationSt Marylebone Polytechnic Institute School of Art
OccupationsAuthor, illustrator
FamilyJ Archibald Allen (uncle)[2]

Hester Marion Wagstaff [a] (15 June 1892 – 27 January 1953) was an English writer, illustrator, artist, jeweller and mapmaker.[4] In 1913, a card-table top that she made while studying at the St Marylebone Polytechnic Institute School of Art was presented to Queen Elizabeth on behalf of the school.[5] She wrote and illustrated several children's books between the 1930s and 1950s,[6] including Doings of Dicky Daw (1940)[7] and three books about a Jolly Robin.[8] She was an accomplished jeweller and co-founded the Petersfield Workshops and Bookshop.[9]

Personal life and education

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Hester Marion Wagstaff was born to Jane Pearson and Ernest Hamilton Wagstaff in Leighton Buzzard, England. She had an older sister.[10]

In 1910 Wagstaff won first prize in memory drawing in a Midland Counties Union examination.[11] She attended Leighton Buzzard Evening School[12] and the St Marylebone Polytechnic Institute School of Art,[13] where she became friends with Flora Twort and Cecily Peele.[14]

Wagstaff lived in Petersfield from 1918 until her death. She lived at Oakshott Hanger, a hamlet just outside Petersfield, with Twort, Winifred Stamp and Maria Brahms.[15] She was on the committee of the Group for the Preservation and Improvement of Petersfield from 1945,[16] and was a founding member of the Petersfield Arts and Crafts Society.[17] When Stamp died in 1948, she left her effects to Wagstaff.[18]

Career

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In 1912 and 1913 Wagstaff exhibited at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in London.[19] In 1913, as part of a national competition, she was awarded a gold medal for a stained wood-carved tabletop.[20] It was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum and together with a "decorated box to hold theatrical make-up" was seen by Queen Elizabeth who was "much charmed" and expressed an interest in buying them.[21] The school's governors purchased the pieces and presented them to the Queen. The UK's Board of Trade also sent pieces of her work to the 1913 Ghent International Exposition.[22] In 1914 she exhibited an oblong mirror frame as part of The National Competition of Art in London.[23]

Wagstaff was a member of the Society of Women Artists[24] and the Three Arts Club.[25] In the 1940s she exhibited paintings at the Petersfield Arts and Crafts exhibition.[26] Together with Twort, Brahms and Harry Roberts, Wagstaff ran the Petersfield Workshops and Bookshop in Petersfield town centre,[27] where she also sold her jewellery.[28]

After her death, the Petersfield Arts and Crafts Society established the Hester Wagstaff Memorial Prize. It is still awarded annually.[29][30]

Books

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Wagstaff wrote and/or illustrated the following books:

  • A Rook Among the Magpies: And other reminiscences (1933) by J Archibald Allen. Pub. Simpkin Marshall - illustrator[31]
  • The Doings of Dicky Daw' (1939) Pub. Hamish Hamilton[32] - author
  • The Tale of the Jolly Robin (1945) Pub. Faber and Faber - author and illustrator
  • The Tale of the Jolly Robin Family (1945) Pub. Faber and Faber[33] - author and illustrator
  • The Adventures of Velvet (1946) Pub. Faber and Faber - author and illustrator
  • Fuzzy Wuzzy & Woolly Wonder (1947) Pub. Hamish Hamilton[34] - author
  • The Tale of Two Jolly Robins (1947) Pub. Faber and Faber[35] - author and illustrator
  • The Adventures of Velvet and Vicky (1950) Pub. Faber and Faber[36] - author and illustrator

Maps

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  • Petersfield in 1922 (1922) Pub. Petersfield Bookshop - illustrator
  • Eton College (1937) which was subsequently featured in Eton Medley, published in 1948[37][38]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Her surname was sometimes misspelt as Wagstaffe[3]

References

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  1. ↑ "Waggles with pups". Where the Light Falls. Petersfield, England: Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery. September 2025. p. 7.
  2. ↑ "A book you will enjoy". Evening Sentinel. Stoke-on-Trent, UK. 1933-06-28. p. 9.
  3. ↑ "Fairy Tales". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. 1947-12-19. p. 3.
  4. ↑ "Round the galleries". Lady's Pictorial. London, UK. 1920-03-13. p. 34.
  5. ↑ "National Competition of Schools of Art, 1913". The International Studio (Vol. 50 No. 197 ed.). New York, USA: John Lane Company. September 1913. p. 296.
  6. ↑ "Animals are different". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, UK. 1939-12-01. p. 5.
  7. ↑ Lamar, Beverley (1986). Fiction, folklore, fantasy and poetry for children 1876-1985. New York, USA: R R Bowker. p. 1657. ISBN 9780835218313.
  8. ↑ "For the youngest". Library Journal Index. 76: 651. 15 April 1976. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  9. ↑ Jeffery, David (2004). Petersfield at War. Stroud, Gloucs, UK: Sutton. p. 116. ISBN 075093672X.
  10. ↑ The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales,RG14, 1911
  11. ↑ "Evening School progress". Luton Times and Advertiser. Luton, UK. 1910-09-30. p. 3.
  12. ↑ "Midland Counties Union of Education Institutions". Ampthill and District News. Bedford, UK. 1910-07-09. p. 3.
  13. ↑ "Art". Lady's Pictorial. London, UK. 1913-08-09. p. 22.
  14. ↑ "20th Century female mapmakers: Cecily Peele (1892-1984)". barronmaps.com. 22 March 2017. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  15. ↑ The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/2393K
  16. ↑ "Grant to preservation group". Hampshire Telegraph. Petersfield, UK. 1945-01-26. p. 8.
  17. ↑ "Arts Society's progress". West Sussex Gazette. West Sussex, UK. 1953-05-07. p. 11.
  18. ↑ Principal Probate Registry; Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England, S to T. London, UK: His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1948. p. 448.
  19. ↑ Crane, Walter (1912). Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society Catalogue of the Tenth Exhibition. London, UK: Arts and Crafts Society. p. 94.
  20. ↑ "Board of education gold medals". The Times. London, UK. 1913-07-31. p. 11.
  21. ↑ "National Art Exhibition". London Evening Standard. London, UK. 1913-07-25. p. 13.
  22. ↑ "Patronised by royalty". Bucks Herald. Buckingham, UK. 1913-06-14. p. 2.
  23. ↑ "The National Competition of Schools of Art, 1914". The International Studio (Vol. LIII No. 212 ed.). New York, USA: John Lane Company. October 1914. p. 281.
  24. ↑ "Society of Women Artists". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. 1921-02-23. p. 5.
  25. ↑ "Wonderful colours and costumes". Evening News. London, UK. 1914-01-20. p. 7.
  26. ↑ "Petersfield Arts and Crafts Exhibition". Hampshire Telegraph. Petersfield, UK. 1940-05-31. p. 5.
  27. ↑ Clegg's international directory of the world's book trade. London, UK: J Clarke. 1940. p. 167.
  28. ↑ Jeffery, David (2004). Petersfield at War. Stroud, Gloucs, UK: Sutton. p. 119. ISBN 075093672X.
  29. ↑ "Crafts variety wins praise". Portsmouth Evening News. Portsmouth, UK. 1989-08-29. p. 38.
  30. ↑ "Sheryl Elaine Pape". soc-botanical-artists.org. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  31. ↑ "A book you will enjoy". Evening Sentinel. Stoke-on-Trent, UK. 1933-06-28. p. 9.
  32. ↑ "Books for the Young". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, UK. 1939-09-06. p. 3.
  33. ↑ "Books received". Liverpool Daily Post. Liverpool, UK. 1950-10-03. p. 4.
  34. ↑ "Books received". Liverpool Daily Post. Liverpool, UK. 1947-05-31. p. 4.
  35. ↑ "Children". Bookseller. London, UK. 1947-11-22. p. 136.
  36. ↑ "For young readers". Belfast News-Letter. Belfast, UK. 1950-12-04. p. 4.
  37. ↑ "All-the-year-round map". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. 1937-09-22. p. 14.
  38. ↑ Crouch, Daniel. XX marks the spot – or women with latitude. London, UK: Daniel Crouch Rare Books. p. 72.
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