Maud Messel

Maud Frances Sambourne Messel (5 August 1875 – 8 March 1960) was a British artist and horticulturalist. She was awarded an MBE for her work with the Red Cross in World War I.

Maud Frances Sambourne was born on 5 August 1875 in Kensington, the daughter of Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne and Marion Herapath Sambourne. She grew up in Sambourne House.

Samboure had lessons from artist Blanche Vicat-Cole and published her first drawing in Punch in 1892, followed by drawings in Pall Mall Magazine in 1894. She also provided illustrations for a pair of books of fantastic stories: Fantasies (1896) by Mabel Nembhard and Cherriwink: a fairy story (1897) by Rachel Penn.

She married wealthy German-Jewish stockbroker Leonard Charles Rudolph Messel in 1898.

During World War I, Maud Messel was commandant of the Knowle Auxiliary Hospital, a 20-bed military hospital, in Balcombe, West Sussex near the Mussel's country home Balcombe House. Hundreds of wounded soldiers were treated at the Knowle hospital.

At Balcombe House and their later country home Nymans, Messel created extensive and widely praised rose gardens filled with old garden roses.

Maud Frances Sambourne died on 8 March 1960.

Personal life
Maud and Leonard Messel had three children:


 * Linley Messel (1889-1971), British Army officer
 * Anne Parsons, Countess of Rosse (1902-1992), mother of Lord Snowden
 * Oliver Messel (1904-1974), artist and stage designer