Evelyn Dunbar - Early History

Early History

She was born on 18 December 1906 in Reading, UK, the fifth and youngest child of William and Florence (née Murgatroyd) Dunbar. Her father was Scottish, originally from Cromdale, Morayshire. In 1913 the family moved to Strood, a suburb of Rochester, Kent, where William Dunbar established himself and eventually his older children in various retail businesses. Florence Dunbar, a Yorkshirewoman, a keen gardener and amateur still-life artist, was also a Christian Scientist, into which church she introduced her children. Evelyn Dunbar remained a happily committed Christian Scientist throughout her life. She inherited her mother's love of gardening as well as her artistic gifts.

Evelyn Dunbar was educated at Rochester Grammar School for Girls, to which she had won a Kent County Council scholarship. After a period of part-time study and a foray into both writing and illustrating children's books, in 1929 she won an Exhibition to study at the Royal College of Art, where the Principal was Sir William Rothenstein. She graduated ARCA (Associate of the Royal College of Art) in 1933.

Prominent among her Royal College of Art tutors was Cyril Mahoney (1903–1968), also known as Charles. Encouraged by Sir William Rothenstein, Mahoney and a small group of fourth-year students including Dunbar were commissioned to decorate the assembly hall of Brockley County School for Boys (now Prendergast-Hilly Fields College) in the Lewisham district of SE London with a series of murals illustrating Aesop's fables. Of the group Mahoney and Dunbar contributed most to the series, which was formally unveiled in 1936.