Pat Marriott (1920–2002)

Pat Marriott was a British artist and book illustrator, best known for her thirty-year collaboration with author Joan Aiken. Born in Chester in 1920, she was interested in art from a young age, and entered the St. Martin's School of Art at age fourteen. She went on to study at Westminster and Chelsea, where her work with life studies laid the foundation for her illustrative style. Marriott worked as a nurse during World War II, and enjoyed painting, particularly bird studies. Her first book commission came in 1952, for Ian Serraillier's Belinda and the Swans. In 1953, she married Michael Howard, a director at the publishing firm Jonathan Cape. After Howard's death, she was married again, to family friend Brian Bullen. Marriott died in 2002.

A collection of her papers, including original artwork for 'Tiger adventure' by Willard Price, and 'The stolen lake' and 'Is' by Joan Aiken, along with preliminary cover artwork for two more titles by Joan Aiken, is held by the Seven Stories Archive, Gateshead.