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Frances Isobel Swan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frances Isobel Swan
Swan (center) with Reginald Keble (left) and her son Christopher Morcom (right), circa 1927
OccupationSculptor
Years active1895—1903

Frances Isobel Swan Morcom^ (1875–1941) was an English artist and sculptor.

She is notable for raising student athlete and astronomer Christopher Morcom, a childhood friend of English computer scientist Alan Turing. She also created a statue of her late father, Sir Joseph Swan, an inventor of the incandescent light bulb.

Biography

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In 1875, Swan was born[1][2] in Low Fell, Gateshead, Durham.[2]

Between 1895 and 1903, she lived in 58 Holland Park, London,[3] which was also her period of prominent exhibition.[4]

Her statuette Marbles was exhibited in 1899 at the Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Seventeenth Autumn Exhibition.[5]

In 1903, she created the bronze sculpture Adeline which was exhibited at that year's Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Twenty-First Autumn Exhibition.[6]

The following year, she married Reginald Keble Swan (1877–1961).[3][7]

On September 19, 1906, she gave birth to her first son, Alfred Rupert Morcom. He would become a research director and chemist for Bellis & Morcom Ltd.[3]

On the 13 June 1911, she gave birth to Christopher Collan Morcom. A noted prankster, astronomer, and student athlete, he would become a noteworthy friend of Alan Turing before his premature death in 1930.[3]

In 1924, she gifted a bronze statue of her late father Joseph Swan to The Literary & Philosophical Society of Newcastle in Newcastle upon Tyne.[8]

She died on February 26, 1941, in Bromsgrove at the age of 63.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. https://artuk.org/discover/artists/swan-frances-isobel-18751941. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. 1 2 "Frances Isobel Swan - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "MORCOM/BE ONE NAME STUDY Person Page 395". www.morcoms.co.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  4. "The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768- - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  5. "Marbles by Frances Isobel Swan - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  6. "Adeline by Frances Isobel Swan - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  7. "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  8. "Sculpture of Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828–1914)". ArtUK.