Self portrait - Click to enlarge

Susan studied at the Slade Art School and was later accepted at the Royal Academy, where she was a silver medallist. One of her commissioned portraits is at the National Portrait Gallery, London. The subject was Frederic William Maitland, a law historian and friend of the family. There is also a portrait of her father at the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester, which was presented to the museum by her niece, Rosemary Hart (deceased).

A magnificent full size portrait of her mother, seated in a chair, used to hang on Rosemary’s wall at her home in Barnstaple. Unfortunately, her second husband decided to sell it to a (real-estate?) scoundrel for £100, in order to dress up a mansion he was selling. Fortunately, a b/w photo exists, probably taken by the Royal Academy in 1906.

Susan painted large oil portraits of all her family, including a fine self-portrait. This is now in the possession of her grandson, Rod Fripp, who also has a b/w photo of her mother's portrait and a portrait of her brother, Paul Fossett Lock, who bears a strong resemblance to Rod's father.

Susan's family took regular summer holidays on the south coast of England, at South Down farm (now National Trust) near Ringstead Beach, which they rented from the farmer for holidays. It was here that she met her future husband, Leopold Fripp, as the two families shared the big farmhouse for holidays. The farm still looks the same today, over 100 years after Leo photographed it in 1898. Susan's sister, Sybil, also studied medicine at Bedford College with Leo's mother.

Leo emigrated to South Africa in 1899 and the couple married at Kalk Bay, Capetown, on 4th September 1907. The wedding photographs were taken by Leo's cousin, Henry Edward Fripp, who had emigrated to South Africa about 1870 and established Fripps photography business.

Leopold and Susan on their Wedding Day, at Kalk Bay, nr Cape Town, 4 Sep 1907

Susan followed her new husband on his travels as the first private-practising surveyor in South Africa. They took in some wild places, including four field seasons at what is now the Kruger National Park. This gave her plenty of opportunities to apply her skills at creating exotic South African landscapes.

Susan died 7th July 1913, a month after the birth of her second child, Paul Henry Fripp, and her fine talents were lost forever. She died in a country hospital in Louis Trichardt, South Africa, the worst and most infected place for a new mother to recuperate after childbirth, and penicillin was still to be discovered. Fortunately she left a legacy in her paintings and her descendants.

A list of her oils exhibited at the R.A. is below.