Ernest Maitland T. Coffin (1868-1944) – British artist

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for finding this artist

Ernest Maitland T. Coffin was born on 13th December 1868 in Stoke Damerel, Devonshire, UK.    Stoke, also referred to by its earlier name of Stoke Damerel, is a parish, that was once part of the historical Devonport, UK.  In 1914, Devonport and Plymouth amalgamated with Stonehouse and the new town took the name of Plymouth. Since the amalgamation, Stoke has been an inner suburb of Plymouth in the English County of Devonshire. 

Ernest’s parents were Thomas Coffin, a surgeon and General Medical Practitioner, and his wife, Mary Augusta Coffin, known as Maria, nee Tause, who were married in March 1868.  Ernest had the following siblings: Ethel, b. 1870, Claud D'Eresby, b. 1875 and Algernon Crawford, b. 1875.

The family moved from Devonshire to live in London and by 1891, they were living in Hampstead and Ernest was studying medicine.  

In 1910, Ernest married Almeida Roberts and on the 1911 Census,  the couple were living in Westminster, London and Ernest’s occupation was listed as artist.  

Ernest produced a series of lithographs for the British Empire Exhibition held at Wembley, London April to October 1924. 

By 1939, Ernest and Almeida were living in Croydon, Surrey and Ernest’s occupation was listed as ‘artist – retired’.  Ernest died in December 1944.

The illustration by Coffin is from a magazine advertisement for insurance in “The Telegraph and Telephone Journal”, October 1917

Sources: Find my Past, Free BMD and “The Telegraph and Telephone Journal”, October 1917

http://www.samhallas.co.uk/repository/journals/Telegraph_%26_Telephone_Journal/Whole%20year%20editions/Telegraph%20and%20Telephone%20Journal%20-%20Vol%2004%20%28Oct%201917%20-%20Sep1918%29.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0BTihPFBgaAXAbCpNvwQvHEYfd1hN3v_vbxZVjLifXDn5D-lzp0QvHakU