painter, was born in London on 4 January 1844, daughter of James Huggins, believed to be the first lawyer to practise at Kapunda, South Australia, and Henrietta, née Kilby. On 10 April 1867 Amie became the second wife of William Hoare Benham, who continued her father’s legal practice at Kapunda. They had 12 children. Amie lived in Kapunda until the 1920s; she died at Clarence Park on 25 January 1937. As Miss Huggins she was awarded prizes at the 1866 exhibition of the South Australian Society of Arts for Winter Scene ; Allen’s Creek, Kapunda ; Waterfall in Switzerland ; and Buchsgarten, North Tyrol (a copy in watercolours). Her copy of the heads of a madonna and child, also on display though not a prize-winner, was said by the critic of the South Australian Advertiser to show 'of how much that is really good in painting Miss Huggins is capable’.
At the following year’s exhibition the new Mrs W.H. Benham was awarded eight prizes: for drawings, watercolour landscapes and oil and watercolour copies of well-known paintings. This time the South Australian Advertiser considered her best work to be that awarded the prize for the 'best Watercolour Painting, Landscape by Ladies, original or copy’, judging her winning entry in the open watercolour landscape category as less effective: 'the moon is not, and does not throw a pure white light, and…by inattention to this simple point, the whole mystery of moonlight and shadow is entirely lost’. In 1868 she received eight more prizes. Bridge near Allandale , described as 'a pretty view of a country bridge with a couple of genuine gum-trees by the side of a small creek’, was judged the best pencil landscape sketch, while an 'exquisite little cabinet sketch’ depicting a gold-prospector’s camp won second prize for a watercolour painting illustrative of colonial life (no first prize was awarded). She also won the prize for the 'best oil painting, a study of a tree or trees, by amateurs, original or copy’.
At the society’s 1869, 1870 and 1871 exhibitions Mrs Benham received further prizes for her oil and watercolour paintings and drawings, her subjects continuing to be landscapes, still-life and trees.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
