Cecilia Margaret Nairn

• Name — Cecilia Margaret Nairn • Birth Name — Cecilia Margaret Campbell • Born — 1791 • Died — 4 June 1857 • Known for — wax sculptor, painter

• Illustration — Nairn's ink and watercolour painting, Bray Head She was a pupil of her father John Henry Campbell, himself a painter. At the age of eighteen, she began to showcase her work through various exhibits. In 1809, she sent her work to the exhibition on Hawkins Street in Dublin to be viewed; she continually contributed to this exhibit until 1821. After this time, she sporadically contributed her work to the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1826 to 1847 in the towns of Killarney and Wicklow. The Ulster Museum hold a number of her watercolours.

Nairn was born in Dublin in 1791. She had two brothers, John and Charles. John lived in Belfast and was a designer of damask and linen patterns, and Charles was an army officer. She married Irish horse painter George Nairn (1799 – 25 January 1850). Both their daughter, Anna Langley Nairn (fl. 1844 – 1848, later Armstrong), and their son, John Campbell Nairn, became artists. After George died from a long and painful illness on 25 January 1850, her death quickly followed; she died in Oak House, Battersea, on 4 June 1850 at the age of 65.