Elfreda Audsley: Writer and artist

Elfreda Ashdown Audsley was a member of the St Paul’s Watch and one of the founding members of the Friends.

Born in Hendon, North London, in 1903, Elfreda came from an artistic family. Her paternal grandfather was George Ashdown Audsley, a Scottish artist, architect and pipe organ designer, who designed the largest pipe organ in the world (the Wanamaker Organ, Philadelphia). Her youngest sister Mary Audsley studied at the Westminster School of Art and had work exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Elfreda had an interest in writing and illustration and in 1931 she published a children's book, Quiddlekin. Based on tales she invented for her youngest brother, the book relates the adventures Elfreda (as narrator) has with a fairy creature she meets at the bottom of their family garden. 

During the war, Elfreda was an Air Raid Warden in Esher and later worked for the Ministry of Information. She became a member of the first aid team for the St Paul's Watch in 1942, and was responsible for the first aid post in the upper levels of the Cathedral.

After the war, Elfreda found employment at the Victoria and Albert Museum but maintained her connections with the Cathedral. She attended the first meeting of the Friends on 29th April 1952, and became an active member. In particular she led a project to produce embroidered cushion covers in the Choir Stalls, creating the designs and undertaking the work for the Bishop of London’s own cushion herself. In 1965, Elfreda was elected a member of the Friends’ Council, a position she held until 1970.

Elfreda died in Kensington, London, on 29th December 1974.