Olive Mudie-Cooke

[1][2] Mudie-Cooke was born in west London, the younger of two daughters to Henry Cooke, a carpet merchant, and Beatrice Mudie.

In January 1916 Mudie-Cooke and her elder sister Phyllis, who had studied Archaeology, went to France as volunteer members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, FANY.

[6] In 1919 Mudie-Cooke came to the attention of the Women's Work Sub-Committee of the newly formed Imperial War Museum which acquired a number of her paintings for its fledgling collection.

[4][7][8] In 1920 the British Red Cross commissioned her to return to France to record the activities of the Voluntary Aid Detachment units who were still providing care and relief there.

[5][9] Her paintings from this visit include examples of war damage, the shattered landscapes of the former battlefields and women tending graves in a cemetery.