Edna Manley

Edna Swithenbank Manley, OM (1 March 1900 – 2 February 1987) was a sculptor and contributor to Jamaican culture. She was the wife of Norman Manley, the founder of the Jamaican People's National Party. She is often considered the "mother of Jamaican art".

Early life and education

Edna Manley was the daughter of English cleric Harvey Swithenbank and his Jamaican wife, Ellie Shearer. Her father died when Edna was nine, leaving his widow to raise their nine children by herself. Edna Manley was highly independent and spirited. She attended several art schools in a two-year period, as she sensed that these schools were incredibly limited in what they offered.

As a young woman, she took private art classes with the artist Maurice Harding. She went on to continue her art studies at the Regent Street Polytechnic as well as the Saint Martin's School of Art in London.

In 1921, she married her cousin, Norman Manley, and moved to Jamaica with him in 1922. They had two children, Michael Manley (a future prime minister) and Douglas Manley, a sociologist and minister in his brother's government.