How legacy of Yorkshire botanical artist Mally Francis is living on in corner of Cornwall

Botanical Illustrator Mally Francis in her Sawpit Studio. Picture: Charles Francis.

By Chris Burn

Published 16th Jul 2021, 16:48 BST

Updated 16th Jul 2021, 16:53 BST

Botanical artist Mally Francis is most associated with Cornwall thanks to her work with the Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project – but her story began in her beloved Yorkshire

Mally, who died in 2019 at the age of 72 from cancer, was born in Roundhay, Leeds, and spent most of her childhood in Bridlington before going to college in Edinburgh where she trained as a speech and language therapist. She moved to York to begin her career and met her husband Charles.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post over Zoom, Charles says: “For her, Yorkshire was home really. I moved up to York in 1967 and that was when we met. She was a speech and language therapist for children – it was something she had wanted to do from an early age.

Charles Francis, husband of the late botanical illustrator Mally Francis, photographed with some of Mally's famous illustrations in their house and studio in Cornwall. Picture: Ernesto Rogata.

“We lived together in York for six years which was lovely. We went to Bridlington very frequently to see her family.”

Charles says her interest in the natural world also blossomed in Yorkshire when she would go on country walks with her grandfather.

“As a child she would walk the lanes around Tadcaster and he would point out wildflowers to her. She always had an interest in it and she was also born with a painting skill.”

After the first of their two daughters were born, the family moved to Leicester for Charles’s work – a move which he says saw Mally “sobbing all the way down the motorway” as she was so sad to leave her life in Yorkshire behind. But it was in Leicester that she started on the path which would make her one of the country’s most acclaimed botanical artists.

Botanical Illustrator Mally Francis in Bridlington. Picture: Charles Francis.

In addition to working as a local magistrate, Mally saw an advert in the Leicester Mercury about botanical drawing classes and decided to sign up. She was taught by Anne-Marie Evans and went on to follow her principles and techniques after discovering a talent for the skill.

In an obituary to her on the British Botanical Artists’ website, Mally was quoted explaining what she loved about the process of drawing and painting plants.

“Once you start, botanical illustration gets under your skin,” she said. “The more you do, the more you see. What starts as a mild interest develops into complete absorption.

“Walks in the country are the same as you become aware of the extraordinary and beautiful complexity of plants.”