Draft:Violet Rea

Violet Rea (1901–1977), also known as Violet Astley Cooper after marriage, was a British mycologist, watercolourist and illustrator. She was a member of the British Mycological Society.

Early life and parents
Violet Rea was born in Worchester, Worcestershire, England on 30 March 1901 to father Carleton Rea and mother Emma Amy Rea (née Rose). Both Carleton Rea and Emma Amy Rea were both prominent British naturalists and mycologists.

Emma was known for painting many watercolours (now in the mycology collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) of the fungi she collected alongside her husband and later, with her daughter. She was elected President of the British Mycological Society in 1915. Emma's father (and Violet's maternal grandfather) John Rose was a Foundation Member of the British Mycological Society.

Carleton was known for the Botany of Worcestershire, agarics, publishing British Basidiomycetidae, which was one of the most comprehensive regional accounts of fungi of its time, and his involvement with the British Mycological Society. He was a founder of the British Mycological Society, holding continuous office for thirty-four years across various roles including being elected President in 1907 and again in 1921.

Carleton and Emma were both in the Worcestershire Naturalists' Club.

Mycology and botanical illustration
She was a member of the British Mycological Society and is pictured attending forays, meetings and events by that Society. In the Brief Biographies of British Mycologists compiled by Geoffrey C. Ainsworth she is described as "an expert watercolourist" and working alongside her mother and father in mycological documentation and research.

She is described as a 'paintress', which is a term for a female painter, on her mother's entry in the Stuttgart Database of Scientific Illustrators 1450–1950.

Later personal life
She married Astley Cooper.

Death
Violet Rea Astley Cooper died in 1977.