Edward had a younger sister, Maud, but two older siblings had died of cholera, and it was health concerns that led the family to move back to England in 1879.

[13] The Wells family’s social connections to the landed gentry and its ‘old-boy network’ placed Edward in a good position to set up himself up primarily as a portrait painter.

[21] More ambitious oil paintings – such as Milking Time, exhibited at the Grafton Galleries, London, in 1905 – reveal painstaking attention to detail.

To risk the responsibilities of marriage & with heavy studio rent to be paid out on such small means certainly amounts to a gamble which in my opinion no one has a right to undertake.

[31] The next few years saw Wells at the height of his artistic ambitions, working on a larger scale; The Shower of Gold,[32] a reinterpretation of the legend of Danae, was selected for the Royal Academy in 1911 and was well received: ‘Laburnums droop over a nude girl lying asleep below the vivid bloom: the effect is superb, and very decorative.’[33] Anne (known to Edward as ‘Nan’) initially posed for the female figure, before a professional model took up the pose.

Soon, however, the First World War was affecting all aspects of life in Britain, and opportunities for portrait commissions were few; Wells now worked mainly on small watercolour pastoral scenes.

[37] He was placed in category C1 – ‘Garrison Service at Home Camp’[38] – and after initial training in Norfolk he was posted to the War Office in London, where he carried out clerical duties until he was demobilised in February 1919.

A big boost was a commission to paint Lady Romayne Cecil, the daughter of the Marquis of Exeter, whose family home was Burghley House in Stamford.

As ‘Nan’s’ health deteriorated, her cousin Edward Pellew (the 8th Viscount Exmouth) stepped in financially, paying for visits to the Pyrenees, where he had property, and to Switzerland, where it was hoped that the altitude would help her.

[41] The alpine surroundings inspired Wells’s painting but unfortunately failed to revive Anne’s health, and she died in their Upper Norwood home in 1924.

His daughters, Judith and Sylvia, were in their twenties and were making lives for themselves;[50] and although his son, William, was still at the St Andrew's University, he was mainly supported by Caroline Pellew.

She had trained in ballet at Madame Vandyck’s Academy in Swiss Cottage, London, and had been selected to be a prima ballerina with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, with whom she appeared on Broadway in New York.

With premises large enough to display Edward’s stock of unsold paintings, his creativity was reawakened, and Kay dedicated herself to promoting her husband’s work.

They led a hectic cultural life, attending Myra Hess’s concerts, John Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft’s theatrical performances, and Royal Academy soirées.

Wells sold his share in a valuable Hampstead property to his father’s solicitor, which partly offset their expenses, and he undertook further portrait commissions.

The exhibitions that Kay organised at the Walker’s Galleries in New Bond Street (essentially retrospectives) were well received, but led to few sales.

Edward had suffered a stroke in June 1940 and lost the use of a leg;[57] however, he was able to continue working, and a watercolour – Spring Woodland – was accepted for the Royal Academy in 1941.

[58] When Wells’s sister died in 1942 his and Kay’s assets were strained further through the requirement to pay death duties on Maud’s share of the joint trust.

In 1944 they sold the remainder of their lease on 39 Parkhill Road and rented premises in Knightsbidge, London on the corner of Cadogan Place and Sloane Street.