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Maude Egerton King (London, 1867–1927) née Maude Egerton Hine, was the youngest of the 15 children of Henry George Hine (1811-1985) the watercolour landscape painter and Mary Ann Eliza Egerton, her mother’s maiden name of Egerton appears in most of the children’s middle names. Maude was an author, editor of The Vineyard magazine, wife of Joseph King (MP) and is accredited with instigating the Peasant Arts movement in Haslemere, a number of items made this movement are held in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Biography
Maude began her early life in Hampstead, her eldest sisters were 25 years older than her. Maude’s parents were both painters, Henry George Hine was Vice President of the Royal Institute 1887-1895. A number of Maude’s siblings followed their parents into the artistic world: William Egerton Hine (1851-1926) was a landscape painter and Art teacher at Harrow School, Esther Hine (1842-1872) was a portrait painter and Art Mistress at the North London Collegiate School for Girls and Harry T. Hine (1845-1941) specialized in painting views of cathedrals and castles.

In 1887 Maude married Joseph King (MP) who became the Liberal MP for North Somerset 1910-1918. In 1894 the Kings moved to Lower Birtley, Witley near Haslemere and in 1897 Maude had a daughter, Katherine King, their only child.

In 1894 Maude established the Wheel and Spinners Guild at her home, in the same year the Kings also founded the Haslemere Weaving Industry. In 1896 the Peasant Art Society was founded by the Kings and Ethel and Godfrey Blount. Ethel (b.1864-?) was Maude’s sister. Maude is accredited with instigating the Peasant Arts movement through her weaving skills. In 1900 Joseph King’s addressed visitors to the Weaving House explaining that “it was about eight years since the work was commenced, largely through the fact that Mrs King had been very interested in the working of the handlooms of some Swedish ladies. She had a loom in her own in London, and on moving to Lower Birtley they had first a room in the house set apart for the work, then an outhouse, and later the present premises (in Foundry Lane / Foundry Meadow, now Kings Road, Haslemere) were designed and built in order to be near a centre of population.”

Beliefs
At the core of the sisters beliefs was the importance of home industry and the impact of this work upon spiritual well-being. This is well demonstrated in Greville MacDonald’s first hand description of Maude Egerton King “she felt that the spiritual worth of spinning and weaving, of building chairs and tables, or of carving vessels or crucifixes for the home, was absolute…so the humblest home was to her more sacred than any church or shrine or altar”.

An important part of Blount and King’s approach was to impart knowledge through teaching. Ethel Blount and Maude Egerton King jointly ran the Wheel and Spindle Club which they established in 1912 at Sandhouse (the Kings large house in Witley). Here they taught local girls aged between 7-14 years old to spin. Blount and King reported on this venture that “To give a little girl the use of her hands is to bring a disinherited princess back into her kingdom”. Maude was also a vegetarian, publishing a poem entitled “Why I Am A Vegetarian” explaining her beliefs in My Book of Songs and Sonnets (1893).