Shaw, Kathleen Trousdell

Born in London to Irish parents; deafness discovered in 1870 after an illness, becoming progressively worse until totally deaf in her mid-teens. Interest in sculpture was sparked by watching stonemasons working on tombs in a churchyard, and she attended the Dublin School of Art beginning age 10. Her talent won her medals and prizes, then she was sent to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beux Arts. After a brief time of more study in Rome, worked for a time in the British Museum before setting up her own studio in Knutsford, Cheshire, though she frequently travelled back and forth from Ireland for commissions there. Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, first woman sculptor to be made member of any Royal Academy in the British Isles. Retired to Cadmore End after World War I with failing eyesight; her last work was the design and execution of a marble, silver and bronze memorial font as a war memorial in Cdmore End parish church; the font is still there. Totally blind for the last 30-plus years of her life, relying on tactile communication; died at home in Cadmore End.