Edward Maufe by Gluck
Queer Places:
Shepherd's Hill, Buxted, Sussex
Lady Gladys Evelyn Prudence Stutchbury Maufe (1882 - February 20, 1976) was a friend and neighbour of Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murry when they lived in Old Church St., Chelsea. She was married to Edward (later Sir) Maufe, an architect. Gluck met society flower arranger and decorator Constance Spry in 1932 when Prudence Maufe sent Gluck an arrangement by Spry to paint.
Prudence Stutchbury was the daughter of Edward Stutchbury of the Geological Survey of India. She was a designer and interior decorator, and later a director of Heal's Furniture Store.[2]
Edward Maufe by Gluck
Prudence Maufe was an art student in Paris although she admitted that she had been more interested in architecture and decoration, later writing a weekly article for an American paper. In 1918 she had been a finalist in a Design and Industries Association competition for printed fabric designs. TPrudence joined the firm of Heal's as an adviser on interior decoration, one of her responsibilities being the furnishings in the Mansard Flat on Heal's top floor, shortly after she had become the lover of Ambrose Heal (1872-1959). Their long relationship remained hidden from public view behind a façade of separate marriages and families that seem[ed] to ... tolerate the situation.
As a designer herself, Prudence Maufe had always been a great help to her husband and she worked enthusiastically beside him on his project for the Guilford Cathedral. They both felt that the new cathedral should be a symbol expressing the Christian Creed in all its parts. As a director of Heal's Furniture store, Prudence was responsible for the furnishings in the cathedral. She also designed the vestments and the kneelers. However, the carpet below the steps leading up to the High Altar was designed by her husband. The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit was finally dedicated on 17 May 1961.
They moved to Shepherds Hill, Buxted, East Sussex in 1926 and later had one son, who died in 1968. Lady Maufe died in 1976.
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