Florence, as she was generally known, was a core member of the Manchester art scene in the late 1800s.

The Monkhouses and their relations were extraordinary gifted, part of the energetic Manchester art and literary scene of the time. This is evidenced by a scroll – a birthday gift to a member of the family – signed by numerous writers, artists, journalists and other Manchester illumini of the day. Amongst the many names are:

• Neville Cardus – literary commentator on cricket and music, and of special interest to me because my father was named after him.
• H. M. Thomlinson – Manchester Guardian journalist and author of The Sea and the Jungle, a book I happened to read many years ago and much enjoyed.
• Francis Dodd – lifelong friend of Isabel Dacre and a fine artist in himself.
• Susan Isabel Dacre, Jessie Pollitt, Mary Louisa Breakell, Margaret G. Wroe and others associated with the Manchester Society of Women Painters. (A meeting at the Manchester Literary Club in 1876 included an exhibition of works by ‘Miss Mary Breakall, Miss S. Isabel Dacre, Miss Florence Monkhouse, Mrs. Wroe‘ and others.)

I’m only aware of a single work in a public collection by Florence Monkhouse, her Portrait of Agnes Amy Brooke (another champion of women’s rights) at Newnham College, Cambridge.

Like so many women artists of the period, Florence’s works have all but vanished, in spite of her having being a regular exhibitor in her own day. In The Magazine of Art commentary on the Manchester Academy exhibition of 1887, Isabel and Florence are the only female artists mentioned by name, Florence for “two simple figure-subjects, remarkable for their interesting treatment.”

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Many thanks to the individual – who had historic connections with the Monkhouse family – who allowed me the privelage of visiting them at home and seeing the above works.

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It is likely my father, Neville Russell, was named after Neville Cardus, one of the names on the birthday list mentioned above (the evidence being my grandfather’s name written in a book by Neville Cardus, dated the year of my father’s birth). My family recently discovered a piece commercial artwork dating from the ?1930 by my father – at that time an apprentice graphic and occasional fine artist – until the war came along and he was posted to India. Very little of his work survives, so I’ll take the liberty of posting the piece here.

Birlec Ltd, or the Birmingham Electric Furnace Company, was founded in 1927 and continued in existence on paper until recently, although in reality it had long since been subsumed into multinational concerns.

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Page last updated 28 May 2025.