Marjorie (Courtney) Quennell (British, 1884-1972) Mrs and Ca...

Estimate

£2,000 - £3,000

Marjorie (Courtney) Quennell (British, 1884-1972) Mrs and Captain Wilfred Harry Dowman A pair of oils on canvas 41 x 33.5cm and 39 x 28cm Both monogrammed lower right and dated 1925 Wilfred Harry Dowman was born in Birmingham on 28 February 1879. His father died when he was a boy and his mother took work as a cook in Birkenhead. Wilfred was determined to go to sea, which he did at the age of 13. In December 1894 he became an apprentice on the Hawksdale, owned by Iredale & Porter of Liverpool. During the voyage he watched Cutty Sark pass them ''in a manner which could not fail to impress ... the inmates of the Hawksdale's half deck''. It was a sight he never forgot. His future wife Catharine was a member of the wealthy English Courtauld textile family. She was born in Bocking, Essex, the daughter of Sydney Courtauld (1840-1899) and Sarah Lucy Sharpe (1844-1906). Her older brother Samuel Courtauld founded the Courtauld Institute of Art. Wilfred and Catharine Courtauld were married at Westminster on 12 November 1920. They had two children, Colin and Margaret, and made their home in Falmouth. Wilfred owned a boatyard and ran a training school for ''poor boys of good character'' using the schooner Lady of Avenel. In January 1922 Cutty Sark, then known as the Ferreira, put into Falmouth to repair storm damage and the Dowmans were determined to buy her. The purchase was completed in October 1922 and she replaced the Lady of Avenel as the cadet training ship. Over the next two years, the Dowmans funded the restoration of the ship and by 1924 Cutty Sark was displayed as the flagship at the Fowey Regatta. For 16 years, the vessel was moored in Falmouth and was used to train cadets until Wilfred's death in 1936, which prompted her sale in 1938 to the Thames Nautical Training College. Catharine continued to follow the Cutty Sark, last visiting the ship in 1968 at the age of 90.