Tributes paid to ‘one-of-a-kind’ founding figure of the Stanley Spencer Gallery

A founding member of the Stanley Spencer Gallery has been remembered as a ‘one-of-a-kind’ centenarian and a ‘tireless campaigner’.

Joan ‘Mimi’ Marland George was born the youngest of three children on September 19, 1922, in Southport, Lancashire, to an Armenian mother and Manchester-born father.

Her family moved south in the 1930s, and at 18, with the outbreak of war, Joan trained as a nurse in London and learned to drive an army ambulance.

She met and married Merrick George after the war and had two children, but her son Nicholas died from pneumonia aged 21 months.

The marriage did not last, and she moved to Cookham with her daughter Clare, where Joan remained for more than five decades.

“It was a very picturesque rural village when she moved in, and being close to the river meant a great deal to her,” her granddaughter, Catherine Pullan, 58, told the Advertiser.

“She absolutely loved Cookham, she loved the people in it; she liked that pace of life.”

Joan’s connection with Cookham prompted her family to hold a ‘celebration of life’ at Moor Hall following her humanist funeral service in Gerrards Cross on Thursday, January 15.

“It was important to us to go back…overlooking the moor, which was a view she knew incredibly well and of course that Stanley Spencer had famously drawn.”

Joan was introduced to the ‘eccentric’ artist by her mother in 1954, and Spencer drew pencil sketches of her and her family members on several occasions.

“He’s quite a big part of my family life. His life, his work, his personal life had a big effect on a lot of people in a small, sleepy, quiet little rural community,” said Catherine.

In 1960, a few months after Spencer’s death, Joan moved with Clare into Fernlea, Spencer’s birthplace and former family home in Cookham High Street.

Joan was later involved in the fundraising efforts to establish the Stanley Spencer Memorial Gallery in 1962 and remained closely involved as honorary secretary.

She published ‘Stanley Remembered’, a collection of stories, pictures and memories from those who knew him in Cookham in 2009.

Speaking at the funeral, Dr Scot McKendrick, chair of trustees at the Sir Stanley Spencer Memorial Trust, said: “Joan’s committed discipleship offers a touchstone to us and will, I hope, remain an inspiration to all who continue to care about the artistic legacy of Stanley Spencer and the gallery founded in his memory to provide insight, inspiration and enjoyment.”

Pictured: A sketch of Joan by Stanley Spencer.

Joan was a founder of the Cookham Labour Party in the 1970s and hosted weekly meetings at her house for many years.

“It sounds hard to say my grandmother was a Champagne socialist, but she had a strong sense of right and wrong and equality,” said Catherine.

“She was very ahead of her time in terms of diversity, in terms of acceptance, and that everybody should be given a fair chance.

“She felt that ‘true blue’ Cookham was not really reflecting those values, so she thought she'd do something about it.”

Catherine described her grandmother as ‘quite political’, reflecting on the campaigns she’d attend for Amnesty International and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

“She was always busy. She was fortunate that, financially, she didn’t need to go out to work, but she did a lot of good work and really worked for it, whether it was the campaigns or the causes she really believed in,” added Catherine.

After nearly half a century living in Cookham, Joan began researching the sociopolitical and family backgrounds of the Manchester Armenians and her book ‘Merchants in Exile’ was published in 2002.

“Although she didn’t speak Armenian, many of her friends were Armenian, and she threw herself into raising money, raising awareness and campaigning against genocide,” said Catherine.

Joan was involved with Armenian groups in London and regularly travelled for concerts, meetings and get-togethers.

Her research expanded as she followed the Armenian story to London, and in 2009, she published ‘Merchants to Magnates, Intrigue and Survival: Armenians in London 1900-2000’.

Joan moved to an assisted living facility in Beaconsfield in 2010 and was ‘on her feet right up until the last two weeks’.

“She was up, washed, dressed on her Zimmer under her own steam and in full capacity and had all of her marbles, which was pretty awesome at 103,” said Catherine.

“I often used to ask her what the secret of your success was? How do you do it? She always answered the same. She said, ‘Don’t worry’.

“She didn’t worry. She’d go and do something about it. She was a doer.

“My goodness, she was tough. She could be utterly terrifying, incredibly determined, and that’s what got her to 103.”

Joan died in Beaconsfield on December 19 2025, and is survived by her daughter, Clare, and her granddaughter, Catherine.