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Bannerman, Frances Jones

Main entryBannerman, Frances Jones
Birth placeHalifax, Nova Scotia
Birth date8 April 1855
Death placeTorquay, Devon, England
Death date1944
Identifier0157
Birth nameFrances Maria Jones
Married nameBannerman
Marital statusmarried
Religious affiliationAnglican
BiographyMember of a distinguished Loyalist family, Frances Maria (Jones) Bannerman (1855-1944) grew up in Halifax's Northwest Arm, an area known for its wealthy residents such as the Jones' neighbours and cousins, Susan Morrow Jones* and Helen Duffus.* Frances made her artistic reputation as a painter in Halifax where she received her early training, and in Europe, where she exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1883 and later in London. Her father was the Honorable Alfred Gilpin Jones (1824-1906), a successful businessman who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia from 1900 to 1906. In 1886 Frances married fellow artist, Englishman Hamlet Bannerman. That same year, the two returned to live in Great Marlowe, England, where they continued to paint. After several bouts of influenza and related illnesses, Frances began to suffer from arthritis, and was forced to stop painting. When Hamlet died in 1895, Frances turned her attentions towards writing, a talent she shared with her cousins and with sister Alice Jones.* MILESTONES (1899), Frances's only volume of poetry, was published in London and received favourable comments from the press. In 1901, the artist-poet moved to Italy, where she remained until WWII forced her to leave. She returned to Torquay, England where she died in 1944.
Other notesStudied with Forshaw Day in Canada, and with Auguste Feyen-Perrin and Edouard Krug in Paris. Frances was one of the first North American artists to incorporate impressionism into her paintings, and was the first Canadian to ever show at the Paris Salon.
ResidencesHalifax, Nova Scotia (1855, 1871, 1881); Great Marlowe, England (1886); Madron, Cornwall (1891); London; Italy (1901-44).
Geographic regionsEngland
Primary genrespoetry
BooksMILESTONES: A COLLECTION OF VERSES (1899)
OrganizationsRoyal Canadian Academy; Royal Academy; Paris Salon; Royal Society of British Artists
Other artspainting (oils); illustrating (black & white)
Father's nameHonorable Alfred Gilpin Jones
Life dates of father28 September 1824, Weymouth, Nova Scotia - 15 March 1906, Government House, Halifax, Nova Scotia; m. 1850 (Margaret Wiseman Stairs), 1877 (Emma Albro)
Father's noteMember of Parliament; Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia (1900-1906); Minister of Militia and Defense; businessman (established A.G. Jones and Company, in 1872)
Mother's nameMargaret Wiseman Stairs
Life dates of motherc1826 - c1875
Spouse 1Hamlet Bannerman
Life dates of spouse 1c1851, Marylebone, London, England - 21 June 1895, Buckinghamshire, England
Spouse 1 notepainter
Marriage 1 date28 September 1886
Marriage 1 placeHalifax, Nova Scotia
Biographical referencesMorgan, Henry, CANADIAN MEN AND WOMEN OF THE TIME (1912); "Jones Bannerman, Frances M.," Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Web, 2011); "Bannerman, Frances Jones," Canadian Women Artists History Initiative (Web, 2007); "Frances Bannerman," on CORNWALL ARTISTS INDEX, West Cornwall Art Archive (Web); 1871 Census of Canada; 1881 Census of Canada; 1891 England Census; England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2005; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Bibliographic referencesWatters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), p. 12
Research referencescomplete
Archival referencesSeveral items, Morgan papers, National Archives of Canada; University of British Columba - Fine Arts Library; Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management
Image creditsImage courtesy of the Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, NS: Frances M. Jones Bannerman Collection, 1996-156 no. 13.
CopyrightThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. Please cite Canada's Early Women Writers. SFU Library Digital Collections. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. 1980-2014.