Portrait of Kate Raven, c.1862 Pencil and crayon on off-white paper; 5 ½ x 6 5/16 inches (14 x 15.9 cm) Private collection, Canada. Click on image to enlarge it.
Catherine Harriet Raven (1839-1924) was the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Raven, the Archdeacon of Preston, and the younger sister of the artist John Samuel Raven. Holiday first met her at Bettws-y-Coed in Wales in the summer of 1861 where she was staying with her sister Jane and her brother John. Holiday, as well as the two Raven sisters, were asked if they would like to see some studies by Mr. Collingwood [? William Collingwood], the watercolour painter. Holiday recalled in his Reminiscences:
Occasionally, when I seemed to be getting on, I looked forward to the time when I might be able to set up a home of my own, and hoped I might find some sympathetic being suitable as a companion for life who would accept me in that relation. I thought falling in love was very pretty in storybooks, but that in real life it must be a matter of careful choice, with the chance of that choice being reciprocated. But all this was thrown to the winds during the half-hour I spent before Mr. Collingwood’s sketches. Life had assumed a new aspect for me, and though I do not think I was lacking in devotion to the profession I had chosen for myself, I had certainly found a new and powerful incentive to work and to work well…A few days after that, our first meeting, I spent the evening with them and made the welcome discovery that Miss Kate Raven was devoted to music and was an excellent pianist. [81]
The couple continued to meet the following summer at Bettws-y-Coed. When Holiday made a declaration of his interest in marrying Kate, even though he was not yet in a position to marry, her father gave him “an absolute refusal and a strict injunction not to see his daughter again” (82). Holiday noted: ”Of course I had to obey the order, and all intercourse ceased except ordinary civilities if we met on the road…I could not tell how long it might be before I should be earning an income which would warrant my coming forward again, and meanwhile there might and probably would be other suitors. There was nothing for it but a long period of suspense and anxiety” (87). On the few occasion, however, when Holiday did meet Kate socially her reception of him did give him hope. In 1864 Holiday was finally given permission to court Kate, both at Bettws-y-Coed and then later in London where they went to concerts together. Holiday finally married Kate on October 13, 1864 at the little church at Bettws-y-Coed and they honeymooned in Scotland. The couple moved to 21 St. Stephens Square in Bayswater, which was a house with a studio. Their only child Winifred was born on September 18, 1865. Kate almost died from complications of childbirth so they had no more children. Kate was never in robust health from this time period onwards, and died in 1924, predeceasing her husband by three years.
Later in life Kate became well known as an embroiderer and for her support for women’s suffrage. Kate had been practicing embroidery for some time and had developed a technique of her own. In the 1870s she became very involved doing prestige embroideries for Morris & Co. William Morris was impressed by her talents and had suggested designing for her on a commercial basis with her embroideries to be sold through his firm. Morris had told Henry “You know, Holiday, I’d back your wife for heavy sums against all Europe at embroidery” (Holiday, Reminiscences, 266). Although Morris supplied the designs, the colouring and technique were left to Kate. Thomas Wardle dyed the embroidery silks she used especially to her own specifications. The elaborate portières and coverlets she worked were time-consuming and thus expensive. A customer might have to pay as much as £120 for one of them, an enormous sum at the time.
Bibliography
Holiday, Henry. Reminiscences of My Life. London: Heinemann, 1914.
Created 16 January 2023