Whilst Freda Hands was a painter, it was as a calligrapher that she found fame and supplied work for the British Royal Family, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope which indicates her work was unquestionably of the highest standard. One of her best known works for the Royal Family was The Book of Baptism Service of Prince Charles, acquired by Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) in 1948. She also wrote and decorated the Jamaican Declaration of Independence which is one of the few major pieces with her name attached to it. She studied in London under Mervyn M C Oliver and was elected as a Craft Member of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators (SSI) in 1951. She married William Jones in 1953 and continued as a working calligrapher into her eighties.
Great Britain