10 Facts About Clare Leighton

Clare Leighton was born in London on 12 April 1898, the daughter of Robert Leighton and Marie Connor Leighton, both authors.

Clare Leighton was baptised with the name Clare Marie Veronica Leighton on 26 May 1898 at All Saints' Church in St John's Wood.

Clare Leighton's mother was dismissive of Clare's looks, ambitions and talents, while she said of Roland that: "He is the only one of my children who is beautiful enough to be worth dressing".

In 1915, Clare Leighton began formal studies at the Brighton College of Art and later trained at the Slade School of Fine Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts, where she studied wood engraving under Noel Rooke.

Clare Leighton sketched landscapes and peasant workers, developing an affinity for portraying rural life.

Clare Leighton was the first woman to produce a book on wood-engraving.

Clare Leighton had two brothers: the older, Roland Clare Leighton, was killed in action in December 1915, and is immortalized in Vera Brittain's memoir, Testament of Youth; the younger Evelyn, a Royal Navy officer, received the OBE in 1942.

Clare Leighton was separated from Jane Esdon Brailsford who refused him a divorce.

When Brailsford's wife died in 1937, leaving the way clear for the couple to marry, he suffered an emotional breakdown, destroying his relationship with Clare Leighton who left for a new life in the US in 1939.

Clare Leighton's ashes are buried in a cemetery in Waterbury, Connecticut.