Unknown - portrait of Helen Muriel Forshaw

This charming miniature portrait on ivory is signed, but so far the signature has not been deciphered.

The sitter is Helen Muriel Forshaw (1908-2002), who was generally called by her second name, Muriel and lived for many years in Leamington Spa. Apparently, she never married.

Most usually, the miniature is accompanied by a photograph of Muriel taken in 2000, which was kindly provided by the vendor together with some extra information about Muriel.

Thus the miniature is unique in this collection in having an accompanying portrait, showing the sitter nearly 90 years after the date of the original miniature.

Knowledge of her name has enabled the location of her birth record, which was 16 April 1908 at Richmond, Surrey, England.

In the 1911 census record for Canada she is recorded as living with her parents Thomas Guy Forshaw (22 Apr 1881-?) and Ethel Norah Forshaw (Apr 1876-?) at 1721 Cosmos St, Vancouver, BC. where her father was a company manager and agent, in the automotive industry. The family had arrived in Canada in 1909. At that time Thomas must have have been a pioneer in the industry.

Her death notice read "Forshaw, Helen Muriel dies peacefully in her sleep on Friday 30, August 2002 a the Westminster Nursing Home aged 94 years. Muriel Forshaw requested before her death, that the cremation which will be held at the Oakley Wood Crematorium at 3.15pm on Tuesday 10th September, 2002 be attended by three people only who have been notified directly and that no flowers accompany her body to, or be sent to, the Crematorium."

Although from the image here, it looks a little as if there is a photographic base, I do not think that is the case. In the flesh, it looks more like a painting.

The signature is very indistinct and about the only apparent letters are a double "ll", such as would appear in the name Collins.

The vendor of the miniature befriended Muriel in her old age and she told him a little about her past.

The family had arrived in Canada in 1909, but in 1912 they returned to England and Muriel remembered being told she was emigrating across the Atlantic with her parents at the exact same time as the Titanic sank, but fortunately on a course a few hundred miles further south. 1310