Obituaries in The Times and Church Times had much to say about the life of Pamela Tudor Craig, Lady Wedgwood. She was a notable figure in so many ways but they didn’t touch on our Pamela. Here Susan Woolf fills in some of what she meant to us at HPC.
Pamela died in December aged 89. She was active as an Art Historian up until that month, as she had written a piece for The Church Times.
The obituary in that paper did not mention her time in Hampstead. She was the first female churchwarden at Hampstead Parish Church (from 1978). She took an active interest in the liturgy and all areas of parish life.
Pamela had noticed that the 18th century Commandment Boards in the gallery here had paintings of saints covering all the lettering! It was “all wrong”, as those pictures were 19th century. One of her many contacts in the art world was Roger de Grey, Principal of The City and Guilds Art School. He saw the problem as an interesting challenge for his students. The boards were removed to the school and remained there until five years later, in 1984. There was a re-dedication of them in the morning communion service. Roger de Grey attended. It was a great result. Every trace of the saints had gone, and the gold lettering had been revived.
Some parishioners were invited to her lovely second wedding at Westminster Abbey. Her husband was Sir John Wedgwood. She wore a medieval costume which she used later for filming her BBC series on Art.
Pamela moved to the community at Little Gidding and taught nearby for an American University.
Besides the happy memories of Pamela in Hampstead we remember her sister Ann, Ann’s husband, Kenneth Clarke, and daughter Camilla. Kenneth was a potter of renown. Ann was a talented artist whose work adorned some of Kenneth’s ceramics and Camilla is a calligrapher and artist. Ann illustrated the Hampstead Cookery Book. If you have never seen it, try to borrow copy! Some of us have Hampstead tiles which were decorated by Ann.
Pamela Tudor Craig
Susan Woolf