Mary Stormont
Mary Elizabeth Stormont (nee Sapsworth; 2 January 1871 – 11 October 1962) was a British painter. Life Mary Elizabeth Sapsworth was born in London, England on 2 January 1871. She was the daughter of George Sapsworth, leather merchant, and Elizabeth Deur, and elder sister to Katherine Emma Maltwood. She married Howard Gull Stormont, an artist, in 1898, against the wishes of her parents. The couple eloped to Rye. They lived in Ypres Studio, Rye, East Sussex and they became the focus in Rye for visiting artists. In the 1920s she was a founder member of the Rye Art Club (under the patronage of author Henry James). The Rye Society of Artists continues the ethos and traditions of the founder members to this day. She exhibited throughout her life, showing regularly at many locations, notably the Royal Academy, the Bruton Galleries (London), Walker Art Gallery (Liverpool), Royal Institute and the Ridley Art Club (Grafton Galleries). She first exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1899 with an oil painting, A wayside inn. In the following year she exhibited both an oil painting and a watercolour. She continued to exhibit in at least 17 Royal Academy Exhibitions, her last being in