Augustus Edwin John, O.M., R.A. (1878-1961)

Mabel Wright, known by her friends as 'Mavis', met her future husband, the eccentric prankster and poet, (William) Horace de Vere Cole (1881-1936), and Augustus John in 1928 at the Café Royal on Regent Street. Her marriage to Cole in 1930 was to be the beginning of an impressive social career as a 'Bright Young Thing'. In 1934 she became John's mistress, and following the death of Cole, she married the eminent archaeologist Sir (Robert Eric) Mortimer Wheeler (1890-1976).