Received an email (for which many thanks) from someone who owns a work which was originally owned by a Miss Edith F. Prestige of Blackheath, London, who died 1965, and which the executor of her estate termed “an unfinished head of a child by Annie Swinnerton [spelled with ‘I’ not ‘Y’]” (correspondence of 1967). The contactee’s late mother, Mrs A_, knew this Miss Prestige c. 1940., and was given the work by her. It was subsequently inherited by her daughter, who sent the email.

I have taken the liberty of naming the work “Portrait of a child wearing a sash“, creating a permanent page for it HERE.

There is a label on the back, put there by the late Mrs A_, saying “Portrait of a Child / Subject and artist unknown / Given to me by Miss Edith Prestige of / 3 Montpelier Row, Blackheath London SE3”. This is obviously at odds with the executor’s statement of it being “by Annie Swinnerton”, but perhaps Mrs A_ had forgotten or was simply never aware of the attribution.

There is a possible connection with Annie via Susan Isabel Dacre, Annie’s lifelong friend. The 1929 Royal Academy exhibition catalogue gives Isabel’s address as 30 South Vale Road, Blackheath, a-quarter-mile from 3 Montpelier Row, and Isabel died in Blackheath – presumably this address – in 1933 (The Guardian, 21 Feb 1933).

I’d imagine that Annie would have visited Isabel in Blackheath in her late years, although I’m not aware of any documentary evidence, and it may be that Isabel and Miss Prestige (and Annie?) were acquainted.

3 Montpelier Row and 30 South Vale Road, a 15-minute walk apart in a pleasant area on the southern side of Greenwich Park, London.

This name ‘Miss Edith F. Prestige’ comes up in newspaper archive and other searches as a member of the local The Conservative and Unionist Party and a shareholder in the Blackheath Preservation Society. She was born in Brockley, Kent, 1883, and died 8 Dec 1965. (Records assumed to be the same person because of the unusualness of the name and coincidental death date).

I have added this an an ‘attributed’ to the list of Annie’s works, although the attribution is admittedly weak: (1) “by Annie Swinnerton” in executor letter, but “artist unknown” according to label on back; (2) The work appears to be a finished piece, not “an unfinished head” as stated in executor letter of 1967, so possibly misidentified.

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Many thanks for owner of the work for contacting the site.

Page last updated 12 Oct 2025.