Celia (Mackay) Poor

Celia (Mackay) Poor
Name	Celia (Mackay) Poor
Birth date	1887
Death date	1963
Birth place	London, England
Occupation	Philanthropist; social reformer; textile designer
Spouse	Arthur Poor
Notable works	Poor Textile Workshops; East End Relief Committee; "Patterns of Industry"

Celia (Mackay) Poor Celia (Mackay) Poor was a British textile designer, social reformer, and philanthropist active in the first half of the 20th century. She worked at the intersection of applied arts, social welfare, and cooperative industry, collaborating with figures and institutions across London, Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. Her projects linked craft revival movements, relief efforts during the First World War and Second World War, and early cooperative manufacturing experiments influenced by continental ideas from France and Germany.

Early life and family

Celia Mackay was born into a mercantile household in London in 1887, daughter of Thomas Mackay, a partner in a shipping firm with trade routes to Liverpool and Le Havre, and Mary Mackay (née Sinclair), whose relatives included civil servants in Edinburgh and merchants in Dublin. Her childhood residence near Kensington placed her within reach of collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum and exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts, where family acquaintances included patrons of the Arts and Crafts Movement such as William Morris and supporters of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood like Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Siblings included an elder brother who served with the Royal Navy and a younger sister who later married into a family with connections to the British Museum.

Education and training

Mackay received early instruction at a private school in Chelsea before enrolling at the Central School of Art and Design in London, where she studied under tutors influenced by figures such as Leonie Gaskell and practitioners associated with the Royal College of Art. Supplementary apprenticeships brought her into workshops connected to the Guild of Handicraft and studios frequented by proponents of textile reform like Lewis Foreman Day and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. She attended short courses at institutions in Manchester School of Art and visited design studios in Paris and Berlin to study contemporary methods linked to ateliers associated with Bauhaus-adjacent thinkers and the Société des Artistes Décorateurs.

Career and contributions

Poor's career combined practical textile design with cooperative social programming. Early commissions included decorative fabrics for firms supplying the Savoy Hotel and textile patterns exhibited at the Royal Society of Arts. During the First World War she organized relief workshops modeled on the Women's Land Army ethos and coordinated with the Red Cross and the War Office to provide employment for women from neighborhoods near Whitechapel and Islington. In the interwar period she founded the Poor Textile Workshops, a cooperative venture inspired by the Co-operative Movement and craft workshops tied to the Handloom Weavers' Society; collaborators included trade unionists from Amalgamated Weavers' Association and reformers associated with Beatrice Webb and the Fabian Society.

Her publications and lectures—often delivered at venues such as the British Library and University College London—addressed sustainable production, linking historical sources from Jacquard looms to contemporary industrial practices in Birmingham and Leeds. During the Great Depression Poor worked with municipal authorities in Glasgow and charitable bodies like the Salvation Army to develop reskilling programs for displaced textile workers, coordinating with relief committees modeled on initiatives in New York and Berlin.

In the Second World War she led emergency textile production for the Ministry of Supply, supplying specialized fabric to units stationed at Portsmouth and factories managed by firms with contracts from Harland and Wolff and Vickers-Armstrongs. Postwar she advised reconstruction efforts linked to the Institute of Directors and participated in cross-Channel cultural exchanges with designers from Rotterdam and Milan.

Personal life and philanthropy

Celia married Arthur Poor, a civil engineer whose projects ranged from railworks near Bristol to harbor improvements in Falmouth; the couple had two children and maintained homes in Kensington and a country cottage near Sussex. Her philanthropic network included patronage of the National Trust, endowments to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and support for community centers run in collaboration with organizations such as St John Ambulance and the Women’s Voluntary Service. She was an active member of local committees linked to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and contributed to relief funds that aided refugees arriving via ports in Southampton.

Legacy and recognition

Poor's influence is evident in surviving textile collections held by institutions including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of London, and regional archives in York and Manchester. Her cooperative model influenced later initiatives documented by scholars at Oxford University and Cambridge University and cited by policymakers within the Ministry of Labour in postwar planning papers. Honors during her life included recognition by the Royal Society of Arts and mentions in periodicals such as The Times and The Manchester Guardian. After her death in 1963, trusts established in her name supported training programs affiliated with the Arts Council of Great Britain and community workshops in Tower Hamlets and Glasgow. She is commemorated in catalogue entries, exhibition labels, and municipal plaques in neighborhoods where her workshops operated.

Category:1887 births Category:1963 deaths Category:British philanthropists Category:British textile designers