Euphemia Chalmers (Gray) Millais (1828-1897)

Euphemia Chalmers "Effie" Millais formerly Gray aka Ruskin

Born 7 May 1828 in Kinnoul, Perthshire, Scotland

Daughter of George Gray Sr. and Sophia Margaret (Jamieson) Gray

Sister of George Gray Jr., Andrew Gray, Robert Gray, Sophia Margaret Gray, Mary Gray, Jane Gray, Andrew Gray, Robert Gray, Sophia Margaret (Gray) Caird, Alice Elizabeth (Gray) Stibbard, John Guthrie Gray, Melville Jameson Gray, Albert Gray and Everett Gray

Wife of John Ruskin — married 10 Apr 1848 (to 1854) in Kinnoul, Perthshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Wife of John Everett Millais Bt PRA — married 5 Jun 1855 in Kinnoul,Perth,Scotland

Descendants

Mother of Everett Millais Bt, George Gray Millais, Euphemia Gray (Millais) James, Mary Millais, Caroline Alice Millais, Geoffrey Millais, John Guille Millais and Sophie Margaret Jameson (Millais) MacEwen

Died 23 Dec 1897 at age 69 in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland

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Profile last modified 9 Mar 2023 | Created 29 Jan 2015

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1 Biography
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Biography

Early Years

Euphemia Gray was born 7 May 1828 at Bowerswell House, Kinnoull, Perth^[1]. She was christened on 7 June 1828 at Kinnoull Church^[2]. She was the eldest of the fifteen children of George Gray and Sophia Jamieson^[3].

Bowerswell House, Kinnoull, Perth

Her father was a well-to-do solicitor who had bought the house the year before at the time of his marriage to Sophia.

Euphemia (always known as Effie) had a conventional upbringing in Perth. One of the family friends she met on his visits north was John Ruskin, an exceptionally clever young man nine years her elder. When she was aged twelve she set him a challenge to write a fairy story. The resulting, King of the Golden River, was the only fiction Ruskin ever wrote. When it was published ten years later it was a huge success.

Marriage to John Ruskin

During 1847 Ruskin began courting Effie and on 10 April 1848 they were married in Kinnoull Church, Perth, Scotland^[4]. He was 29, she just 19.

Kinnoul Church across the River Tay

It is clear that the marriage never truly functioned, Ruskin was aesthetic, distant and cruel. In 1849 Effie remained in London while he went to the Alps with his father gathering further material for his Modern Painters volumes. It became clear that for Ruskin work always came first.

In late 1849, Effie and Ruskin visited Venice, staying at the Hotel Danieli. For Effie, Venice provided an opportunity to actually socialize, while Ruskin was engaged in solitary studies.

In 1851, John and Effie were living together at 31 Park Street, Mayfair^[5]. He is listed as "M.A. Author Of Works On Architecture & Paintings". There were also four servants listed in the household.

Amongst the young painters influenced by Modern Painters were the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In 1850, John Everett Millais exhibited Christ in the House of His Parents at the Academy. It caused a furore for showing the Holy Family and John the Baptist as ordinary and not terribly attractive working people. Charles Dickens wrote an excoriating review. He was almost as scathing about Holman Hunt's offering which hung beside it. Ruskin, already the pre-eminent art critic of the time, wrote to the Times to defend them^[6]. From this a fatal friendship blossomed.

Scandal

In 1852, Millais painted The Order of Release. It was exhibited in 1853 and was a huge success^[7]. John was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy.

The Order of Release.

Effie was the model for the central character of the determined and triumphant wife. She was aged 24, a year older than Millais. Effie had by then been married to Ruskin for more than four years and was at the end of her tether emotionally. The marriage had never been consummated for reasons that have been speculated about ever since. Either way, Millais and Effie were in love before the painting was finished.

In the summer of 1853 Millais went to Scotland with the Ruskins and painted John's portrait among the gneiss formations at Glenfinlas. In 1854, Ruskin was added back in the studio in London and by this stage Millais was so in love with Effie that he could barely stand to be in her husband's presence. She had left Ruskin by then, nominally to return to her family in London. In reality she was with Millais.

Effie sued for an annulment on the grounds that John Ruskin was "incapable of consummating" their marriage "by reason of incurable impotency"^[8]. It caused a huge scandal but Effie was granted her order of release.

Effie and Millais were married one year later on 5 June 1855 at Kinnoull, Perth in Scotland. Their first child, Everett, was born eleven months later. They went on to have seven more children together.

Everett, born in 1856; George, born in 1857; Effie, born in 1858; Mary, born in 1860; Alice, born in 1862; Geoffroy, born in 1863; John in 1865; and Sophie in 1868. Their youngest son, John Guille Millais, was a notable bird artist and gardener. Effie also modelled for a number of her husband's works, notably Peace Concluded (1856), which idealises her as an icon of beauty and fertility. When Ruskin later sought to become engaged to a teenage girl, Rose La Touche, Rose's parents were concerned. They wrote to Effie, asking for her opinion of Ruskin as a husband, and she replied, describing him as oppressive. The engagement was broken off.

Later Life

In 1861, John and Effie were living at 24 Down Street, just off Piccadilly in London (the building was later torn down to make way for the Down Street Station on the Piccadilly line)^[9]. He was listed as Painter & Associate of the Royal Academy. Their four children were with Effie's parents in Perth^[10].

In 1871 the family are living at 7 Cromwell Place, South Kensington. John is listed as Artist & Royal Academician^[11]. Also listed at their home were five of their children, Millais' brother, William, and five servants.

Effie painted by Millais in 1873, aged 45.

In 1881, Millais was living in a huge house at 2 Palace Gate, Kensington (It is now the Zambian Embassy). With him were his brother, William and his children, Alice and Geoffrey^[12]. He was listed as Royal Academician Painter. Also present were a nurse and five servants. It is not clear where Effie was; his daughter Mary was in Perth with the Gray family at Bowerswell House but not Effie. Presumably she was visiting somewhere.

2 Palace Gate, Kensington in Millais' time

Baronetage

Millais was created 1st Baronet Millais, of Palace Gate, Kensington, in the county of Middlesex and of St. Ouen in Jersey on 16 July 1885, the first artist to be honoured with a hereditary title. However the scandal of Effie's annulment meant that she could not be received at court while he could, despite her being Lady Millais.

In 1891, Millais and Effie were listed together at 2 Palace Gate^[13]. With them were their daughter Mary, two grandchildren, Effie's brother, Albert, and nine servants.

Millais was diagnosed with throat cancer and as he was dying the court ban was finally lifted and he and Effie were allowed to attend an official function together. He died 13 August 1891 and was buried in the crypt of St Paul's cathedral in London^[14].

Effie died at Bowerswell on 23 December 1897 and was buried in Kinnoull churchyard which Millais had so evocatively painted in The Vale of Rest^[15].