Rosamond Praeger

Born Holywood Co. Down 1867; died 1954
Rosamond Praeger was the daughter of a Dutch emigrant in the Belfast linen trade. She studied at the Slade School of Art. Although she was an established illustrator of many children's book, it is as a sculptor that she is best known. A sculpture of a baby, the Philosopher, appeared in 1913 and was very popular. She was given an honorary M.A. by the Queen's university of Belfast in and in 1939 she was awarded an M.B.E. After her death in 1953 her bronze statue, Johnny the jig, was unveiled in Holywood, Co. Down, Northern Ireland.