Description:Portraits of Constance Evelyn Meakin and her husband Major James Lionel Meakin.
Major James Lionel Meakin (1874-1940) was educated at Uppingham School and was a Major in the 5th North Staffordshire Regiment. He set up a pottery merchant business which was based in Shelton and had offices in New York.
Constance Evelyn Meakin (nee Paddock, 1875-1966) was the second woman to serve as a member of Staffordshire County Council and was a County Councillor for 37 years from 1920. She was also a member of stone Urban District Council. She was well known for her work in support of nursing, health visiting and hospital provision in Staffordshire.
She was born at Hartwell Hall, Barlaston in 1875 and was the daughter of George Frederick Paddock, a solicitor, and Matilda Esther Paddock. In 1908 she married James Lionel Meakin of pottery manufacturers J & G Meakin and they moved to at the Laurels on Mount Road, Stone. When James' widowed mother, Mrs Emily Meakin died in 1924 they moved to Darlaston Hall. In 1951 the Meakin family sold Darlaston Hall and Constance, by then a widow, moved to Pyebirch Manor near Eccleshall where she died, aged 91, in 1966.