Edmund Nelson (24 January 1910 – 22 January 2007) was a painter whose portraits of Cambridge intellectuals, including G. M. Trevelyan and E. M. Forster, were complemented by those of cricketers (his C. B. Fry now hangs in the Committee Room at Lord's) and artists. His portrait of his wife won the prize for the best portrait in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1947.[1]
Edmund Nelson spent much of his married life in a semi-detached house in Carlton Avenue East, Wembley, Middlesex. Here he and his wife Ruth raised their two children Jane and Martin. Ruth grew vegetables in the garden and made her own bread, again unusual for that period perhaps better known for the introduction of Wonderbread in the newly opening supermarkets! She was also an accomplished pianist. Edmund taught Art in a near-by school and they both lived simply but comfortably. Their home was furnished in an attractive, and for the time, avant garde style incorporating rustic charm with many Arts and Crafts movement pieces. Edmund created a muse-like pastel portrait of the daughter of neighbours who lived over the road; that portrait still hangs in her Swiss home. The famous prize-winning life-size portrait of Ruth hung in an alcove in their bedroom. Ruth and Edmund also had a holiday home in Selsey, furnished in a similar style but with secret corners in the garden where their children and friends could create dens in bamboos and play imaginatively. Their homes were comfortable places where creativity and discussion were encouraged.