Ellen Heaton

Ellen Heaton
Born	1816
Died	1894 Leeds
Monuments	Blue Plaque
Occupation	Arts patron, women's rights campaigner

Ellen Heaton (1816–1894) was a philanthropist and art collector in Leeds, best known for her patronage of and friendships with members and associates of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the influential art critic John Ruskin.

Heaton was born on 8 November 1816 at 7 Briggate, Leeds, the daughter of bookseller John Heaton and sister of physician John Deakin Heaton. Discouraged from continuing her studies by the prevailing antipathy towards female education, she joined Leeds Literary and Philosophical Society (of which her brother was, at one time, President).

In her account of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Fiona MacCarthy describes her as "a wealthy, well-travelled, forthright maiden lady." She was less keen on the more sensual and erotic Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and left Ruskin embarrassed when she refused a Burne-Jones painting he had brought to her attention.

Her house is now the campus of the Swarthmore Education Centre, which holds an annual lecture in her memory.

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