sketcher, was born in Van Diemen’s Land, sixth of the seven children of George Meredith and his second wife Mary, née Evans, and a youthful cousin (and step-sister-in-law) of Louisa Anne Meredith who encouraged her in music, sketching and painting. Fanny grew up at Cambria, Swan Port, near Swansea, and drew local scenes in pencil and watercolour during her teenage years. Her sketches lack any personal character and are rather crude; nevertheless some have been claimed as Louisa’s work. Wineglass Bay 1853 (Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery [QVMAG]) appears to be a copy of an 1852 sketch by Bishop F.R. Nixon , despite the fact that the bay itself was a well-known picturesque spot close to Fanny’s home. Another (undated panoramic) view of Wineglass Bay (QVMAG), in pencil and grey wash heightened with white, is comparable with extant views by both Nixon and Meredith if not a precise copy.
Some of Fanny’s watercolour and pencil views of the Great Swanport district are at the Glamorgan Community Centre, Swansea. Her watercolour of Swansea dated 14 September 1852, Swan River and Port, October 7th 1852 (w/c and pencil) and Adventure Bay, Nov. 22 1852 (watercolour) are in the Meredith Collection (Van Diemen’s Land Folk Museum) along with Risdon (watercolour, not dated), a pencil copy of a sketch by Sarah Poynter of The Old Cottage at Red Banks , which Fanny made in 1846 as a gift for John Meredith. Initialled 'F.M.’, they were donated in 1958 by Miss Violet Mace , a Meredith descendant.
As a girl Fanny Meredith appeared to be fond of her 'Aunt Charles’, regularly visiting the Merediths when they lived nearby and staying with them in 1847 after they had moved to Poyston, Port Sorell. But she turned against Louisa after a family feud in 1853 and subsequently sneered at 'Mrs Bang Bang’, her new nickname for her cousin. Any interest in art seems to have been abandoned at about the same time. Later she married, as his second wife, Major Francis Seymour Gaynor of the 99th Regiment, Hong Kong. They had one son.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
