Ancestorium Family Tree Collaboration

Helen Maclaren

Helen Maclaren

Female 1897 - 1984  (86 years)

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  • Name Helen Maclaren 
    Born 15 Apr 1897  Fort Augustus, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    1 Source See more at https://ancestorium.com/tng/getperson.php?personID=I000122&tree=1 Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Ancestry Ancestors at Find all individuals with events at this location 
    https://ancestorium.com/tng/pedigree.php?personID=I000122&tree=1
    &
    https://ancestorium.com/tng/fan.php?personID=I000122&tree=1&parentset=0&generations=6 
    Educ. St Leonards School, St Andrews, Fife. London School of Art. Maybe the Royal Academy of Art in London Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Info 1 An artist, emigrated to what was then the Nyassaland Protectorate, now Malawi. She drew maps and stamps for the government, as well as continuing with her painting and is listed in A Dictionary of British Artists. She married, but had no children. Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Info 2 3 marriages. Member of the Society of Women Artists, studied with Bernard Adams. More at https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/616047/I000122/helen-maclaren/individual Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Profession Very good artist - designed state tourist posters for Tanganeyka (now Tanzania). Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Died 27 Feb 1984  Newland's Home for Elderly Europeans, Limbe, Malawi Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I000122  Ancestorium
    Last Modified 26 Jan 2023 

    Father James Shaw Maclaren, of Ardlarach,   b. 13 Dec 1869, Govan, Lanark, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 5 Jul 1948, lived at The Mount, Otford, Sevenoaks, Kent, England (Tonbridge, Kent?) Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 78 years) 
    Mother Daisy Steuart Ogilvy,   b. 1871,   d. 1924, (Maybe) Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 53 years) 
    Married 12 Dec 1895  St Peter, Cranley Gardens, Kensington, London SW7 3DB England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • James Shaw Maclaren
      in the 1901 Scotland Census
      Name: James Shaw Maclaren
      Age: 31
      Estimated Birth Year: abt 1870
      Relationship: Head
      Spouse's name : Daisy Stewart Maclaren
      Gender: Male
      Where born: Parish Renfrew, Maxwell
      Registration Number: 82
      Registration District: Tain
      Civil Parish: Tain
      County: Ross and Cromarty
      Address: Ardlarach Ho
      Occupation: Living On Own Means
      ED: 8
      Household Schedule Number: 10
      Line: 1
      Roll: CSSCT1901_21
      Household Members:
      Name Age
      James Shaw Maclaren 31
      Daisy Stewart Maclaren 29
      Hellen Maclaren 3
      Colin Shaw Maclaren 2
      Mary N C Maclaren 1
      Douglas V L H Maclaren 3wks
      Catherine J Davidson 48. Occupation: Monthly Nuse
      Isabella Gaudie 43 Occupation: Childrens Nurse Dom
      Catherine M Mcqueen 21
      Margt Macdonald 20
      Euphemia Mcleod 26
      Source Citation
      Parish: Tain; ED: 8; Page: 5; Line: 1; Roll: CSSCT1901_21
      Source Information
      Ancestry.com. 1901 Scotland Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
      Original data: Scotland. 1901 Scotland Census. Reels 1-446. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
      Description
      The 1901 Census for Scotland was taken on the night of 31 March/1 April 1901. The following information was requested: place, name, relationship to head of family, marital status, age, gender, profession, birthplace, and whether blind, deaf, and dumb. Learn more...

      https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1901Scotland&indiv=try&h=93097
    Family ID F00058  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Arthur Sydney Hylton Waymouth,   b. 1902, Woolwich Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 13 Dec 1939, 7 Knaresborough Place, London S.W.5. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 37 years) 
    Married 1932 
    Family ID F00124  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 E H Flint, Captain,   d. Abt 1949 
    Married 1932 
    Family ID F00125  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 3 Walter Antonio Bregger,   b. 1899, Rome Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Between 1970 and 1971, Newland's Home for Elderly Europeans, Limbe, Nyassaland/Malawi Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 71 years) 
    Married Abt 1950  Early 1950s Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F00126  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Photos
    Helen Maclaren, The Artist
    Helen Maclaren, The Artist
     Helen Maclaren map of Nyasaland drawn in the 1945
    Helen Maclaren map of Nyasaland drawn in the 1945
    Helen Maclaren map of Nyasaland drawn in the 1945 for the Governor, who never paid for it.
    From
    Malawi - Nyasaland historical moments
    https://www.facebook.com/1645320812357206/posts/hi-i-have-just-bought-this-and-wondered-if-anyone-may-be-able-to-provide-informa/2754219101467366/

    Her gift for creating decorative slaps came to the notice of the Governor of Nyasaland, Sir Edmund Richards, who asked her to create a second map; this time encompassing the whole of Nyasaland. She rose to this considerable challenge and, over a period of eleven months, whilst standing at a large table, completed what remains to this day probably the most charming and coveted of maps of the Land of the Lake. As reference sources for the many vignettes she created to decorate the map. Helen used Sir Harry Johnston's British Central Africa for the animals and a book by a Dr. Fitzmaurice for the insects. For her pictures of birds she would almost certainly have consulted Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa.

    Helen Bregger worked with the unwavering belief that she had been commissioned by the Governor of Nyasaland and that she would be compensated, through the purchase of her artwork, by the Nyasaland Government. To her understandable horror and disbelief, in the event such proved not to be the case.

    At this time her husband, Walter Bregger, was employed by the Conforzi Tea and tobacco Company of Cholo (Thyolo). Mr. Ignacio (Puccie) Conforzi, recognising the artistic worth of Helen's cartographic endeavour, came to an arrangement with her whereby he paid her a fee and sent her map to a publisher in London where it was converted into colour separations for publication. In return for the fee and the copyright, Helen received an agreed number of the printed maps for her own use.

    From
    "The Artist, Helen MacLaren"
    Tony Hawken
    The Society of Malawi Journal
    Vol. 59, No. 2 (2006), pp. 35-39
    The Society of Malawi https://societyofmalawi.org/ established 1946
    The Society of Malawi Journal https://societyofmalawi.org/the-journal/
    The journal can now be accessed via JSTOR at the following link https://www.jstor.org/journal/socofmalawij
    Helen Maclaren 1st day postage
    Helen Maclaren 1st day postage
    From
    "The Artist, Helen MacLaren"
    Tony Hawken
    The Society of Malawi Journal
    Vol. 59, No. 2 (2006), pp. 35-39
    The Society of Malawi https://societyofmalawi.org/ established 1946
    The Society of Malawi Journal https://societyofmalawi.org/the-journal/
    The journal can now be accessed via JSTOR at the following link https://www.jstor.org/journal/socofmalawij
    Old Barn in Hertfordshire 1934
    Old Barn in Hertfordshire 1934
    Helen Maclaren

    Antique still life oil painting entitled Asters and Daisies signed Helen Maclaren 1929

    Malawi - Nyasaland historical moments
    Official First Day Cover -
    Former Ships of Lake Malawi ,
    Issued 4 January 1967.
    From my Late Dad’s collection
    https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=225095939862690&set=a.201050212267263
    ++++++++++

    In 1966, Helen Bregger (Maclaren) was approached by the Postmaster General, Mr. Ronald Raby, and commissioned to design and paint a set of four stamps.

    38 The Society of Malawi Journal

    depicting the early steamers of Lake Malawi. She accepted the commission and the set was issued on 4th January 1967. The set depict the Ilala l, the Dove, the Guendolen and the Chauncy Maples. The stamps were printed by Harrison & Sons, London. The Stanley Gibbons catalogue mentions that the stamps were designed by Mrs. H Breggar (sic) and that the one shilling and sixpence value is wrongly inscribed as the 'Chauncgy Maples' rather than the 'Chauncy Maples'. The catalogue also lists the three shilling value as depicting the 'Gwendolen', when in fact the name is spelt "Guendolen'. In the 1970 Commonwealth catalogue Helen's name is further changed and shown as Mrs. H. Bressar. Such is the way of the world.
    From
    The Artist, Helen MacLaren
    Tony Hawken
    The Society of Malawi Journal
    Vol. 59, No. 2 (2006), pp. 35-39
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/29779213?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=maCLAREN&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DmaCLAREN%26amp%3D%26acc%3Drr&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

  • Notes 
    • An artist, emigrated to what was then the Nyassaland Protectorate, now Malawi. She drew maps and stamps for the government, as well as continuing with her painting and is listed in A Dictionary of British Artists. She married, but had no children.
      3 marriages. Member of the Society of Women Artists, studied with Bernard Adams

      The Artist, Helen MacLaren
      Tony Hawken
      The Society of Malawi Journal
      Vol. 59, No. 2 (2006), pp. 35-39
      The Society of Malawi https://societyofmalawi.org/ established 1946
      The Society of Malawi Journal https://societyofmalawi.org/the-journal/
      The journal can now be accessed via JSTOR at the following link https://www.jstor.org/journal/socofmalawij

      The Artist, Helen MacLaren 35
      Tony Hawken

      Helen MacLaren was born on the 15th April 1897, at Fort Augustus, Inverness, Scotland. Virtually nothing is known of her childhood and early life, other than she may have studied for a time at the Royal Academy of Art in London. She became a member of what was then called the Royal Institute of Painters in Oil-Colours, in the Strand, London; and thereafter often added R. 0. I. as a suffix to her name on her paintings. She continued to sign her artworks with her maiden name throughout her life.
      Photograph of Helen MacLaren

      Sometime before the Second World War she married a Mr. Flint, a naval man, who secured a post with the African Lakes Company in Nyasaland as Commander Keith Farquarson's second-in-command on board the ill-fated MS Vipya, based at Fort Johnston (Mangoche). Captain Flint was not on board the fateful voyage when, on the 30th July 1946, on only her fourth voyage after being commissioned barely a month earlier, she capsized in a sudden squall off Florence Bay (Chitimba) with the appalling loss of 145 of the 194 passengers and crew on board. Commander Farquarson and his First Officer, a Mr. Underwood, were amongst those who perished.

      During this period at Fort Johnston, Helen was the librarian at the Nyasa Yacht and Gymkhana Club (now the Lake Malawi Museum) and apparently earned a reputation as a formidable billiards, snooker and Russian

      36 The Society of Malawi Journal

      Pool player. Captain Flint died of unknown causes and early in the 1950s, Helen married Walter Antonio Bregger, a naturalised Briton of Italian birth. Born in Rome in 1899, Bregger was employed by the Nyasaland Public Works Department (PWD), possibly on road-building projects. Her artistic gifts were noted by the Chief Engineer of the PWD, who commissioned her to draw a map of the villages in the Mangochi / Cape Maclear area. This she did to great effect. Copies of this map, dated 1942, are today a great rarity with the whereabouts of only two copies known with any certainty.

      Her gift for creating decorative slaps came to the notice of the Governor of Nyasaland, Sir Edmund Richards, who asked her to create a second map; this time encompassing the whole of Nyasaland. She rose to this considerable challenge and, over a period of eleven months, whilst standing at a large table, completed what remains to this day probably the most charming and coveted of maps of the Land of the Lake. As reference sources for the many vignettes she created to decorate the map. Helen used Sir Harry Johnston's British Central Africa for the animals and a book by a Dr. Fitzmaurice for the insects. For her pictures of birds she would almost certainly have consulted Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa.

      Helen Bregger worked with the unwavering belief that she had been commissioned by the Governor of Nyasaland and that she would be compensated, through the purchase of her artwork, by the Nyasaland Government. To her understandable horror and disbelief, in the event such proved not to be the case.

      At this time her husband, Walter Bregger, was employed by the Conforzi Tea and tobacco Company of Cholo (Thyolo). Mr. Ignacio (Puccie) Conforzi, recognising the artistic worth of Helen's cartographic endeavour, came to an arrangement with her whereby he paid her a fee and sent her map to a publisher in London where it was converted into colour separations for publication. In return for the fee and the copyright, Helen received an agreed number of the printed maps for her own use.

      It would be appropriate here to describe Helen Bregger in the words of some who knew her. He is described as a "a rather short, but beautiful, lady with the most stunning sapphire-blue eyes; very talkative and extremely friendly". An avid painter, she also drew many scenes of life in Nyasaland. She painted birds. flowers. people — even items as seemingly mundane as a Nyasaland Transport second class Bedford bus.

      During the period Walter Bregger worked for the Conforzi family, he was stationed at their tobacco estate at Livulezi,, but during the "off-season" they lived et the Lake in a cottage now owned by the Conforzi family. Helen continued her painting and a close friend, Mrs. loan Clark, from whom much of Helen's personal information has been obtained, remembers seeing two especially spectacular paintings commissioned by a

      The Artist, Helen MacLaren 37

      Mrs. Innes, of a Jacaranda and a Flamboyant. Mrs. Innes was leaving the country and wished to take some lasting memories with her.

      Sometime in the 1960s the Breggers' were involved in buying tobacco for the Livulezi Estate, and Mr. Trento Losacco was sent to inspect the operations there. He returned from his visit far from impressed. He had found the accounting procedures virtually non-existent and very little, if anything, in the way of any records being maintained. Mrs. Joan Clark, who was working at Cholo for the Conforzi's at the time, remarked to the exasperated Trento Losacco “I thought Mrs. Bregger was helping her husband with the accounts?" to which he replied that all she was helping him with was pouring his gin! It appears the Breggars probably 'retired' after this unfortunate episode and went to live at their cottage at the lakeside.

      It was in the late 1960s that Pixie Sweetman, owner of the original Palm Beach Hotel, Mangoche, was selling the "Conforzi" maps, as they came to be known, on commission. It is recalled that "small ones" sold for 15 shillings and "large ones" for thirty-five shillings; a considerable sum in those days. It is a possibility that the "small ones" may well have been copies of the original, 1942 map Helen created, the Lakeshore Road, as no-one can recall ever seeing a smaller version of the "Conforzi" map.

      In 1968, Joan Clark was transferred from the Cholo estate to the Conforzi's Fiat showroom in Victoria Avenue, Blantyre; that wonderful old building that has since been replaced by Chayamba House. Joan Clark well remembers selling "Conforzi" maps for five shillings each; these being from a second imprint of 1968. In 1969 a Government official approached Joan Clark and asked for a copy of the map to show his superior. Shortly thereafter, a letter was received from the Department of Information with the clear instruction that all copies of the map were to be immediately destroyed as they bore the offensive word 'Nyasaland'; in fact the title on the map was NYASALAND PROTECTORATE CENTRAL AFRICA. Joan made numerous 'phone calls to various Government departments and officials to no avail. She finally contacted the Administrative Officer in State House, and explained the situation and that the map was actually historical artwork. His response was said to have been "hard cheese". Thus a great number of Helen's maps were destroyed, although the exact number is not known — as neither is the original print-run. Until recently, the very existence of the 1968 reprint was not generally known. It was commonly held that the artwork that produced the original map was somehow destroyed at the printers.

      Inevitably, Helen Bregger's 'Conforzi' maps have become rare, sought-after, collector's items; the highest recorded price being — admittedly at a well-attended charity auction for a popular cause — the equivalent of four thousand pounds sterling.

      In 1966, Helen Bregger was approached by the Postmaster General, Mr. Ronald Raby, and commissioned to design and paint a set of four stamps

      38 The Society of Malawi Journal

      depicting the early steamers of Lake Malawi. She accepted the commission and the set was issued on 4th January 1967. The set depict the Ilata I, the Dove, the Guendolen and the Chauncy Maples. The stamps were printed by Harrison & Sons, London. The Stanley Gibbons catalogue mentions that the stamps were designed by Mrs. H. Breggar (sic) and that the one chilling and sixpence value is wrongly inscribed as the 'ChaunceyMaples' rather than the `Chauncy Maples'. The catalogue also lists the three shilling value as depicting the `Gwenciolen', when in fact the name is spelt 'Guendolen'. In the 1970 Commonwealth catalogue Helen's name is further changed and shown as Mrs. H. Bressar. Such is the way of the world.

      Little more is known of "the Breggers", save that they both moved into the Newland's Home for Elderly Europeans in January 1969 and it would appear Walter died sometime in 1970/1. Mrs. Joan Clark recalls visiting Newlands in 1970 and finding Helen in the sitting room of the Sanatorium, which she had made her "studio", sitting at her easel and painting happily away.

      Helen died at Newlands on 27th February, 1984 at the age of 87 years. The writer met her briefly in the early 1970s and now bitterly regrets not getting to know her better, the world is a poorer and sadder place for her passing. It is not known where she was buried, although probably at Newlands Cemetery. With so many of the grave plaques having been stolen by scrap-metal thieves, it may be difficult to establish her last resting place with certainty. Her memory will live on, of course, through her wonderful painting; but perhaps most of all through her famous, illustrated map of Nyasaland.

      The Artist, Helen MacLaren 39

      The writer gratefully acknowledges the encouragement and assistance received from many sources; especially Mrs. Joan Clark, Mrs, Barbara Lamport-Stokes, Mrs Margaret Piddles, M. B. E., and Mrs Margaret Camponese. Photographs of Helen and of her Nyasaland map by kind permission of Mr. John Kemp.
      Helen MacLaren's Map of Nyasaland
      The Society of Malawi https://societyofmalawi.org/ established 1946
      The Society of Malawi Journal https://societyofmalawi.org/the-journal/
      The journal can now be accessed via JSTOR at the following link https://www.jstor.org/journal/socofmalawij

      Contact - by post.
      P.O. Box 125
      Blantyre
      Malawi
      Africa
      Telephone: +265 (0) 1 872617
      Email us on: info@societyofmalawi.org or societyofmalawi@africa-online.net

      https://www.jstor.org/stable/29779213?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=maCLAREN&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DmaCLAREN%26amp%3D%26acc%3Drr&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
      +++++++++++++

      From Lucilla Maclaren Spillane
      An artist, emigrated to what was then the Nyassaland Protectorate, now Malawi. She drew maps and stamps for the government, as well as continuing with her painting and is listed in A Dictionary of British Artists. She married, but had no children.
      3 marriages. Member of the Society of Women Artists, studied with Bernard Adams
      Educated at St Leonards, St Andrews, Fife. London School of Art.
      From Lucilla Maclaren Spillane
      +++++++++++++

      The Federal Saints Journal – Issue No. 58 - October 2009
      www.federalsaints.net/backissues/FSJ58.pdf
      The study of Helen MacLaren's life, Paintings and her two known maps. The illustrated 'Nyasaland Protectorate' Map, (known as the “Conforzi Map” as the
      printing was undertaken by Mr Conforzi after the Government turned it down), is the current project.
      The map has been divided up into 1 degree by 1 degree blocks, (except for the Left-hand side where there is approximately a one third degree extra section).
      Each illustration is designated, left to right, by its type and sequential number, (ie Bird #7, Animal #3, Plant #10, Building #2 etc). Also each Place Name and Landmark in the map section is listed in sequence from top Left to bottom Right with it's Latitude and Longitude. All assistance with identification and history will be appreciated. Study undertaken by Ian "Witty" Whitfield, with the help of many Saints and Anthony Cizek. Information, photos etc taken from 'Roberts Birds', Wikipedia and other Internet sources.
      ++++++++

      Nyika-Vwaza News
      The newsletter of the Nyika-Vwaza Trust and the Nyika-Vwaza (UK) Trust
      www.nyika-vwaza-trust.org/library/Newsletter%201-2.pdf
      The evening was a tremendous success not only as a fundraiser (over Malawi Kwacha 1million, about £5,000, was raised) but also in raising awareness of the Trust’s activities. That success can be attributed to fantastic organisation by the Masked Ball committee led by Valerie Seekings and Julie Saunders as well as the incredible generosity of the sponsors. These included the Peace Parks Foundation, Bridge Shipping, British Airways, Nyika Safari Company, Kapani Enterprises, Llandt Exports and many others. Alliance One kindly donated one of the very rare maps of Nyasaland by Helen Maclaren for auction.
      +++++++++++

      Also had a close relationship with Alfred Reginald Claude Kirby (Abt 1901 - 1963). His family still have some of her paintings.