Gilmore, Maeve.

Maeve Patricia Gilmore was born on 14 June 1917, one of the six children of Dr Owen Gilmore and his wife Matty Gilmore, née Carr. Maeve grew up on Acre Lane, Brixton, and received a convent education as befitted her Irish catholic background, before attending a Swiss finishing school.

In 1936 Maeve enrolled at Westminster School of Art to study sculpture (changing to painting some time later). On her first day at Westminster she met her future husband, Mervyn Peake, who was teaching life drawing at the school. In 1937 Maeve was sent to study in Germany for six months. On her return in July 1937 she became engaged to Mervyn and the couple were married on the 1 December of that year. They set up home at Primrose Mansions in Battersea, moving to Maida Vale in the autumn of 1938.

Maeve had a week-long exhibition at the Wertheim Galleries, from February to March 1939. Following the outbreak of war in the autumn of that year, Mervyn and Maeve moved to Lower Warningcamp in Sussex, near the village of Burpham, where Mervyn’s father lived. Their first child, Sebastian, was born on 7 January 1940. In July of 1940, Peake was called up. During this time Peake began writing Titus Groan and would send each of his notebooks home to Maeve for safe-keeping.

Peake and his wife were separated for long periods of time during the war as he was posted to various parts of the country. Maeve was able to accompany him to Blackpool where he was posted in October 1940. When he was transferred to the Royal Engineers’ Chelsea Barracks in June 1941 she and Sebastian were able to visit him at a studio he rented in Store Street, and later, in Manresa Road. For the most part, though, Maeve remained in Sussex, moving from Lower Warningcamp to Wepham in March 1942, shortly before giving birth to her second child, Fabian, on 2 April. She wasn’t permanently reunited with her husband until the autumn of 1944 when the couple moved their family to a studio at 70 Glebe Place, Chelsea where they lived until 1946.

In 1945 Maeve encouraged Mervyn to travel to Germany to take up an assignment from the Leader magazine to record the effects of war following the cessation of hostilities. During his three weeks away Mervyn attended one of the first war crimes trials, visited Belsen and wrote a number of letters home to Maeve describing his experiences.

In 1946 the Peakes moved to the Channel Island of Sark where they lived until 1949. Their third child Charmian Clare (known as Clare) was born on Sark on 25 May 1949. Returning to London in the autumn, in search of work, they moved to Embankment Gardens, Chelsea. Finding this flat too small for the whole family, in 1950 the Peakes purchased The Grange in Smarden, Kent, taking on a huge mortgage to do so. They quickly realised that it was unaffordable and sold the property in 1952, moving to 55 Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey, a property that Peake had inherited from his father.

In March 1957 Mervyn Peake suffered a nervous breakdown which led to the onset of what was eventually diagnosed as Parkinson’s disease. From this point onwards Maeve became increasingly responsible for managing his career: answering his correspondence and liaising with publishers on his behalf.

The Peakes sold their Wallington house and moved to 1 Drayton Gardens, Chelsea, in May 1960. The move was intended to alleviate Peake of the arduous commute to the Central School of Art, where he was still teaching. Maeve had an exhibition of her paintings at the Woodstock Gallery at this time, shortly after which she was offered a position as artist in residence at the University of Indiana. As she recounts in her memoir A World Away, Peake’s condition was worsening and she would not have been able to accept the post even if she had wanted to. In 1961 Maeve gave permission for Peake to undergo a lobotomy, but his condition continued to deteriorate following the procedure. Maeve spent much time looking for suitable hospitals and nursing homes which would be able to care for him. The family finances, which had always been precarious at the best of times, became increasingly so during his illness and Maeve was forced to apply to the Royal Literary Fund and other charitable organisations for support. Peake was permanently hospitalised in 1963 and died on 17 November 1968.

From 1966 onwards Maeve found companionship with John Watney, who later wrote a biography of Mervyn Peake. Before Peake’s death, Maeve herself had begun a memoir of their life together which was published as A World Away in 1970. For the rest of her life Maeve devoted herself to promoting, publishing and exhibiting Peake’s work. A society was founded in his name in 1975 and Maeve became its Honorary President. She also encouraged one of its members, Brian Sibley, to write an adaptation of the Titus books for radio (which was broadcast by the BBC in 1984).

Unbeknown to her children Maeve was also writing a continuation of Titus’ story, taking Peake’s notes and fragmentary beginning as a starting point. She consulted Brian Sibley and Peter Winnington about possible publication but decided not to proceed at that time. The volume was not published until July 2011, the forgotten manuscript having been found in an attic by Maeve’s granddaughter Christian. Maeve other activities included editing Mervyn Peake: Writings & Drawings with Shelagh Johnson (London: Academy Editions, 1974) and Peake’s Progress (London: Allen Lane, 1978) and contributing introductions to a number of books by and about Peake’s work. Her efforts to sell work to various museums and galleries were unsuccessful, given that Peake’s reputation and consequently the value of his work had dropped, but she arranged a number of exhibitions throughout the 1970s and deposited his manuscripts on loan to UCL Special Collections and the Bodleian Library to enable research and conservation.

Maeve continued with her own artistic and literary projects, exhibiting at the Langton Gallery in 1979 and writing and publishing a number of short stories. In 1981 she published a children’s book Captain Eustace and the Magic Room: the characters in the story were dolls made by Maeve and their story was set in 1 Drayton Gardens, featuring the murals she painted throughout the house.

Maeve Gilmore died from cancer on 3 August 1983.

Epithet: afterwards Peake; artist; wife of Mervyn Peake

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000544.0x000124