In his memoir Since 50, Men & Memories 1922-1938 (New York,1940, p. 236) the first two names that appear on William Rothenstein list of top Royal College of Art students were Henry Moore and Charles Mahoney – the list continues with the names of luminaries such as Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden, Barnett Freedman Edward Le Bas, and Evelyn Dunbar. The process of reassuring Mahoney’s place in 20th century British Art has had several important milestones including the 1975 Ashmolean exhibition, the Liss Fine Art/Fine Art Society touring show (2000) and Mahoney’s predominant feature in Tate Britain’s The Art of the Garden, (2005) – but the process of reassessment still has a long way to go.

Painter, muralist, draughtsman and teacher. Born Cyril Mahoney in London – his fellow-student Barnett Freedman re-christened him Charlie at the Royal College of Art, which he attended 1922-6 after a period at Beckenham School of Art under Percy Jowett. Early on, Mahoney established a reputation as a conscientious teacher. He was at the Royal College 1928-53, from 1948-53 as a painting tutor, and was noted there for his concern for academic discipline. His portrait is included in Rodrigo Moynihan’s celebrated Teaching Staff of the Painting School at the Royal College of Art, 1949-50. From 1954 to 1963 he taught at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting and from 1961 to 1968 at the Royal Academy Schools. He painted murals at Morley College 1928-30 with his colleagues Eric Ravillious and Edward Bawden. Unfortunately these murals were destroyed during World War II. The work led to further murals: at Brockley School, Kent, with Evelyn Dunbar; and at Campion Hall Lady Chapel, Oxford. His oil paintings are frequently of a religious nature. He was a skilled botanist, and many of his drawings depict his garden at Wrotham, Kent. He exhibited at NEAC and the RA, being made an RA elect in 1968. He is represented in the Tate Gallery and other public collections. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, held a memorial exhibition in 1975. Exhibitions were held in 2000 at the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Royal Museum and Art Gallery, Canterbury, and the Fine Art Society plc in association with Liss Fine Art.

CHRONOLOGY: DOROTHY MAHONEY
(previously DOROTHY BISHOP), written by the artist’s daughter.

Sept 3; Born Dorothy Louise Bishop in Wednesbury, Staffordshire.;
1902;Eldest child of William and Louise Booth Bishop.

1908-18; Attended St Bartholomew’s Girls’ School, Wednesbury.
Latterly became pupil-assistant.

1918-24; West Bromwich School of Art.

1920; Awarded local scholarship.

1924; Awarded a Staffordshire County Scholarship to attend the Royal College of Art, South Kensington, London. Entered School of Design
with Book Illustration as principal subject.

1926-8       Took Lettering and Illumination as principal subject under
                   Edward Johnston. Became student-assistant to Edward Johnston.
                  Subsidiary subjects: wood engraving, pottery, bookbinding, embroidery.

1929         Appointed Deputy Assistant to Edward Johnston at
                 The Royal College of Art;
                 later given charge of classes in his absences.
                 Gave lectures, demonstrations. Undertook  responsibilities involving both
                 staff and students.

1927-8       Instructor in London County Council classes for women, Brixton and Halford 
                Road; various Arts and Crafts.

1928           Became Tutor in Woolwich Polytechnic School of Art under  Herbert Buckley
               and Louis Prince.  Heber Matthews was Tutor in Pottery and became a friend.

1932         Made two large decorative panels from panels of embroidered work by girls in                her class at Woolwich Technical School; exhibited these at the Victoria and
               Albert Museum and in Stockholm.

1934         Recommended by Professsor Hubert Worthington to execute a series of 
               lettered and illuminated panels on vellum constitiuting the Memorial to the
               15th, 16th, 19th and 20th Battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers (c. 2000 names)
               in Sacred Trinity Church, Salford.

1936          Wrote ‘Index’ on vellum for Manchester Cathedral.

1936         Appointed as a result of a competition held by Society of Scribes and                                 Illuminators to execute a series of lettered panels for the Royal Society of                         British Architects.   
           
1937         Lettered and illuminated a vellum panel War Memorial for All Saints Church,                Hocking.

1938-9      Wrote 2 sets of articles on ‘Broad Pen Lettering’ for Arts and Crafts                                     Education (magazine).

1929-39     Spent a total of  almost 2 years travelling in Europe during summer holidays,                 mainly in France, Germany, Austria, Spain and Italy, visiting art galleries and     
                  museums.
                Visited studios of artists and craftsmen (Worpswede).
                Visited the bookbinding workshop and school of Prof. Otto Dorfner of                          Weimar.

1938         Given 6 months’ leave of absence by London County Council for intensive                     study in dress design at the Reiman School, Westminster.

1939-53     (Now official!) Tutor in charge of Calligraphy at Royal College of Art after                             retirement of Edward Johnston.

1940         Evacuated to Ambleside, Westmoreland, with Royal College of Art (Salutation                          Hotel).

1941         Married the painter and muralist Charles Mahoney in Ambleside.

1941         Made studies of wild flowers from Ambleside.

March 21  Birth of a daughter, Elizabeth, in Wolverhampton.
1944

1945         Moved to Oak Cottage, Wrotham, Kent with her husband and daughter.

1947         Decorative map of Cirencester for the Fleece Hotel ‘ vellum panel.

1948         Book of Remembrance for Brathay Church, Ambleside  (Decorative                                   frontispiece of church).

1949         Lettered and illuminated a presentation to Professor Sir Ian Heilbron,  DSO,                      FRC, at Imperial College
               (book form).

1951         Festival of Britain ‘ cover for leaflet.

1951         Cheltenham College Honours Book  (1841-1950).

1951         French Carol ‘Quelle est cette odeur agreable’ written on vellum for Lord                              Cholmondeley  (Now at Victoria and Albert Museum).
1952         Lettered a Roll of Honour for Institute of Chartered Accontants  War                               Memorial.

January   Initiation of Benefactors’ Book for Whitworth Art Gallery
1952          (originally conceived as panels)

1952         Lettered and illuminated a book presented to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth by                  Shrewsbury School.

1953         Calligraphy teaching at Royal College of Art discontinued by Robin Darwin.

May          Victoria and Albert Museum purchases 2 works by DM.
1953

1953         Books completed for Manchester  Cathedral Memorial Chapel.

1953         First  of  4 Panels of  Provosts for  King’s College Chapel.
(or later)  

1953         Commission for 2 volumes for Roll of Honour for Fiji

1957         Decorative map of  Bayliss Jones & Bayliss Ltd of Wolverhampton

1961         Book for Philip Hofer ‘Some English Garden Flowers’.  Lettered text
                 opposite full-page plant illustration.  Houghton Library, Harvard, USA.

1961         St Clement Danes, Strand.  RAF Book of Remembrance for World War II ‘
                 inscribed 13,500 names beginning with ‘C’ or ‘D’.

1964         Excerpts from Cobbett’s writings for Marilyn Davis.

1965         Decorative map on vellum of St Mary’s College, Cheltenham.

1968         St Felix School, Southwold; Memorial book, map frontispiece.

1970         Vellum book lettered and illuminated by DM and bound by Sydney Cockerell.
                 Post World War II Roll of Honour for Royal Engineers  (St Paul’s Cathedral)

1971         Panel presented to Heather Child by Society of Scribes and Illuminators.
                 (Wordsworth poem with Lakeland flowers).

1981        The Craft of Calligraphy published by Pelham Books Ltd.

1982         Poem by Dylan Thomas for Jeanne Smith ‘ vellum ?panel.

1983         Forced to stop work on Whitworth Art Gallery Benefactor’s book for health                     reasons.

Jan          Decorative Alphabet for Michael Taylor based on uncials.
1984

May         Died after a major stroke.
1984

NOTE     DM  also exhibited with the SSI and Society of Designer                                                             Craftsmen.
               
After leaving the Royal College of Art she taught calligraphy at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and Ravensthorpe School of Art.  After ‘retirement’ at age 65 she taught  2 evening classes a week at the Stanhope Institute, Queen’s Square, London until she was in her late 70s.

Evelyn Dunbar studied at Rochester School of Art, Chelsea School
of Art (1927) and the Royal College of Art (1929’33). She painted
murals from 1933 -36 at Brockley School, a collaboration with her
RCA tutor (and lover) Cyril Mahoney (1903’1968) and in 1937
they wrote and illustrated together Gardeners’ Choice.

In 1938 she set up the Blue Gallery in Rochester, exhibiting her
own work alongside that of Edward Bawden (1903’1989) and
Barnett Freedman (1901’1958) and others. In 1940 she was
appointed an official war artist, becoming the only woman (amongst
36 men) to be given a full time salaried position by the WAAC.

She held her only solo exhibition at Withersdane, Wye, Kent
in 1953, although the WAAC included numerous pieces in touring
exhibitions ranging from Aberdeen Art Gallery to MOMA, New York.

A posthumous exhibition was held in 2006 at St Barbe
Museum and Art Gallery, and in 2015 Liss Llewellyn mounted a
major retrospective of her recently rediscovered studio at Pallant
House Gallery.