Agnes Garrett
Who was Agnes Garrett?
English interior designer and suffragist (1845-1935)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Agnes Garrett (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Agnes Garrett was born on July 12, 1845, in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, into a family that became very politically and professionally influential in Victorian England. Her siblings and cousins included notable figures like Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, a pioneering physician, and Millicent Garrett Fawcett, a leading suffragist. The Garrett family played a significant role in the movement for women's rights and professional advancement. Agnes herself built a unique career in interior design and decoration, becoming one of the first women in Britain to work professionally in that field.
Agnes, along with her cousin Rhoda Garrett, trained in interior design and decoration at a time when women faced significant challenges entering professional trades. They studied under architect J. M. Brydon and started a decorating business together in London. Their work followed the principles of the Aesthetic Movement and was influenced by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, which was changing Victorian domestic interiors. They were known for creating interiors that were both artistically pleasing and practical, moving away from the cluttered style of mid-Victorian decoration.
In 1876, Agnes and Rhoda Garrett co-authored "Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting, Woodwork, and Furniture," one of the earliest practical interior design guides aimed at the general public, especially women managing their households. The book was well-received and helped to establish their professional reputation. After Rhoda Garrett died in 1882, Agnes continued the business alone, expanding her impact on domestic design and professional organization for women.
In 1888, Agnes Garrett founded the Ladies Dwellings Company, which aimed to provide well-designed, comfortable, and affordable housing for professional women living independently in London. This venture combined her design skills with her dedication to improving the welfare and independence of women at a time when finding suitable housing for single working women was challenging. This effort was in line with the Garrett family's focus on improving women's practical living conditions along with their political rights.
Besides her professional work, Agnes Garrett was an active suffragist, supporting the campaign for women's voting rights. She was part of the non-militant suffrage movement, aligned with the approach of her sister Millicent Fawcett and the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. Agnes Garrett died in Gower Street, London, in 1935, having witnessed the full enfranchisement of women in Britain in 1928.
Before Fame
Agnes Garrett grew up in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, the daughter of Newson Garrett, a merchant and maltster who was very supportive of his daughters' ambitions at a time when careers for women were often frowned upon. This positive home environment, along with the intellectual energy from siblings who would later become notable in medicine, politics, and education, gave Agnes both the confidence and the social networks to pursue unconventional ambitions.
Her journey into interior design wasn't easy. Formal training in architecture and design was mostly unavailable to women in the 1860s, and Agnes and her cousin Rhoda had to fight their way into professional training through persistence and the help of supportive contacts. Their determination to work in a male-dominated field put them among the first wave of women challenging the limits of what was considered acceptable for female employment.
Key Achievements
- Co-established one of Britain's first professional interior design practices run by women in the 1870s
- Co-authored Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting, Woodwork, and Furniture (1876), a landmark practical design guide
- Founded the Ladies Dwellings Company in 1888 to provide quality housing for independent professional women
- Contributed to the constitutional women's suffrage movement throughout her adult life
- Helped legitimise interior decoration as a professional discipline open to women in Victorian Britain
Did You Know?
- 01.Agnes Garrett and her cousin Rhoda Garrett trained under architect J. M. Brydon after being refused formal architectural training elsewhere due to their sex.
- 02.Their 1876 book Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting, Woodwork, and Furniture was among the very first practical interior design manuals published in Britain.
- 03.Agnes founded the Ladies Dwellings Company in 1888 to provide purpose-designed housing for independent professional women in London, a pressing social need of the era.
- 04.She was the sister of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, who led the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and the sister-in-law of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Britain's first qualified female physician.
- 05.Agnes lived to the age of 90, surviving long enough to see women gain equal voting rights with men in Britain through the Equal Franchise Act of 1928.