Fanny Talbot (1824–1917)

by unknown photographer

© National Trust Images

Talbot [née Browne], Fanny (1824–1917), philanthropist, was born on 28 March 1824 in Bridgwater, Somerset, the third daughter of John Browne (b. 1797/8), merchant, and his wife, Mary Anne, née Pine (b. 1795/6). She had two elder sisters, Sophia Jane (b. 1821) and Emily (1823–1903), and a younger brother, Charles John Pine (1825–1876). On 26 June 1850, at Christ Church presbyterian chapel, Bridgwater, Fanny Browne married George Tertius Talbot (1825–1873), a surgeon and the son of George Talbot and his wife, Louisa, née Stokes. The couple had one son, George Quartus Pine Talbot, known as ‘Quarry’ (1854–1888), who became an artist. They lived in Brandon Hill St George, Gloucestershire, and Pawlett, Somerset, before returning to Bridgwater.

Following the death of her husband, on 29 September 1873, Fanny Talbot moved permanently to the Welsh coastal town of Barmouth, Merionethshire, where she had often holidayed with her husband and son. Surrounded by philanthropic and intellectual friends—including the writer Blanche Atkinson (1847–1911), the campaigner for women's rights, Frances Power Cobbe, the French utopian socialist Nicolas Augustin (Auguste) Guyard, and the artist and schoolmaster A. J. Hewins—she lived from independent means at Tyn-y-Ffynon, a house looking out to sea. Here she dedicated herself to philanthropic work. Her most notable contributions were the first gift of property to John Ruskin's Guild of St George and the first donation of land to the National Trust, but she also contributed to numerous other projects in Barmouth, as well as in other parts of Britain and in Italy.

Talbot's philanthropy was inspired by Ruskin's teachings on communitarianism, education, and art. In Fors Clavigera Ruskin had written of his need for support for the Guild of St George to create plots of land, museums, and schools. On reading the work, Talbot approached Ruskin in 1874 via a common friend, Alexander MacDonald, master of the Ruskin Drawing School, offering to give to the guild land and cottages located below Tyn-y-Ffynon. The donation began between Talbot and Ruskin a lifelong friendship, enhanced through meeting in Oxford and Venice, chess games by correspondence, and frequent letters on personal, social, and artistic matters. Sustained by real affection, the relationship was driven by different needs. Talbot, desirous to be one of Ruskin's closest disciples, asked all his opinions and feelings, and hoped he would employ her son as an artist. Ruskin's letters reveal longing for unambiguous sympathy from the woman he addressed as ‘Mama Talbot’. Gratitude for financial help meshed with Ruskin's occasional irritation at Fanny's frequent questions on the guild's work. As Ruskin did not want to be involved in the administration, she remained solely in charge of the social experiment at Barmouth.

Talbot's friendship with Ruskin also influenced her subsequent philanthropic work. She made further donations to the guild and his other ventures, including the museum at Walkley, near Sheffield, a training academy for schoolmistresses, Whitelands College, Chelsea, and the fund for St Mark's, Venice. Ruskin also awakened Talbot's interest in his protegées. New friendships resulted, with—among others—the American-born Francesca Alexander, whose social work among the poor in Tuscany Talbot supported; Blanche Atkinson, who would eventually live with Talbot at Tyn-y-Ffynon, and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, whom she assisted in the foundation of the National Trust in the mid-1890s [see Founders of the National Trust]. In turn, Talbot introduced Ruskin to her friend Auguste Guyard, who had set up a model commune in his native village in Franche-Comté, eastern France. In 1870 Guyard fled Paris and spent the rest of his life in a guild cottage at Barmouth. On 14 November 1873 Talbot's son Quarry married Guyard's daughter, Hannah Marie, fourteen years his senior and also an artist. After her death in Algiers in 1878, Quarry married her younger sister, Madeleine (c.1853–1920), in Paris later that year. Fanny Talbot's relationship with her son and Hannah was close, but the couple were in poor health and they frequently spent time in warmer climates. Talbot was devastated first by the death of Hannah and then by that of her son, on 28 May 1888, at Colton, Lancashire. She was further hurt when, soon after, Madeleine Talbot married the Barmouth artist Arthur Alfred Burrington.

Talbot buried herself in work after the death of her son. She continued to administer the guild's cottages, though—during Ruskin's final illness—she increasingly disagreed with the trustees about the organization's future direction, and sought to reclaim the properties for other philanthropic purposes. Though the land and cottages would remain with the guild, Talbot's involvement declined and she looked for other ways to implement her ideas. Most notable was her involvement with the National Trust, which had been incorporated in January 1895 as a body to hold 'places of historic interest or natural beauty' for the nation.

Talbot's friendship with Canon Rawnsley led her, in May 1895, to make the first donation of land to the National Trust. Rawnsley had visited Tyn-y-Ffynon while preparing the trust's foundation and discussed the proposed articles of association with Talbot. She suggested a gift of the cliff top above her house, known as Dinas Oleu or ‘Fortress of Light’:

I have long wanted to secure to the public for ever the enjoyment of Dinas Oleu, but I wish to put it into the custody of some society that will never vulgarize it, or prevent wild Nature from having its own way.

Rawnsley, 20

Her only conditions were that no new paths be created, no seats added, unless of wood or stone, and no stone be quarried. She gave the four acres (1.62 hectares) as a freehold on 3 May 1895 in time for the trust's first annual meeting held six days later (The Times, 10 May 1895). Talbot was made an honorary life member of the National Trust and a panel, paid for by Talbot, was carved into the site bearing the declaration that Dinas Oleu would henceforth 'be kept and guarded for the enjoyment of the people of Barmouth for ever'. Talbot also offered to purchase a further portion of the cliff and other Barmouth land for the trust, but agreement with the owners could not be reached.

While securing this legacy, Talbot also involved herself in many local activities. She gave donations to the Seamen's Hut in memory of her son, scholarships to Barmouth school, distributed coal and food in winter, and gave cakes to local children on Ruskin's birthday. In 1901 she founded the Barmouth public library with Blanche Atkinson, and their mutual friend Frances Power Cobbe, and she acted as a trustee until 1912, nominating Rawnsley as her successor. In her last years, Talbot retreated from public life. She died at her home, Tyn-y-Ffynon, Barmouth, on 22 June 1917. Having outlived all close relatives, she bequeathed her personal property to Rawnsley. She was buried in the churchyard of St Mary and St Bodfer, Llanaber, where her gravestone commemorates her friendship with Ruskin and Power Cobbe, her benefaction to Barmouth and the National Trust, and her love of the 'good and the beautiful and the true'.