Mary Seton Fraser Tytler

Born 1850. Died 1939
Research by Frances Mercer

Who is Mary Seton Fraser Tytler?

The Fraser Tytlers of Woodhouselee had an estate seven miles south of Edinburgh. Their grand family memorial may be seen in Greyfriars' Churchyard.

Mary Seton Fraser Tytler was a relative of this family and lies buried in Compton, Surrey. She was born in India, daughter of Charles Edward Fraser Tytler of Balmain and Aldourie near Loch Ness where she spent most of her childhood but settled in England in the 1860s. Mary trained at the Slade and South Kensington School of Art working at first as a portrait painter. She became part of the Freshwater Community where she met and married at the age of 36, the painter George Frederick Watts who was 69 years old. It seems to have been a love match for affectionate letters are on show at the Watts Gallery. Their house was called Limnerslease; a limner being a Scots portrait painter. After marrying Watts she worked in bas-reliefs, pottery, metalwork and textiles in the Celtic revival and Art Nouveau styles. She designed rugs for the carpet makers Andrew Morton & Co main producers of furnishing fabrics for Liberty's.

Mary's belief that anyone, given the opportunity, had the ability to produce objects of beauty was carried through by the Compton Potters Guild, creating employment for the poor of the district by the preservation of rural crafts and training workers in clay modelling, encouraging them to express themselves creatively.

Although she had no formal training as an architect she designed and had built the Watts Mortuary Chapel in a fusion of Art Nouveau, Celtic, Romanesque and Egyptian styles full of symbolism. The chapel was the Watts' contribution to the Victorian preoccupation with social improvement through creative enlightenment, fostering handicrafts among the lower classes and hopefully weaning them away from the gin palaces. Mary however was not so class conscious and invited all, whatever their social standing, to Limnerslease to learn clay modelling. After a few weeks of training in clay handling they would be making tiles from the plates Mary had prepared. Some terracotta headstones may be seen outside the Watts Mortuary Chapel.

The Watts had two potteries, the one at Compton, Surrey and the other at Aldourie, Mary's home in the Highlands. Both made similar items; large garden pots, square flower boxes and decorative panels. These were sold by Liberty's and are now available as reproductions.