Mabel Lucie Attwell - please remember - don't forget - never leave the bathroom wet!

Back in the nineteen fifties no home was complete without a Mabel Lucie Attwell wall plaque or biscuit-tin money box. Sadly, my sister, brother and I missed out on the money box but we did have a rather rusty tin plaque in the bathroom. I loved the words on that plaque and can still recite them some 50 years later –


Please remember - don't forget - never leave the bathroom wet.
Nor leave the soap still in the water that's a thing we never ought'er.
Nor leave the towels about the floor. Nor keep the bath an hour or more when other folks are wanting one. Please don't forget - it isn't done! But if you really do the thing, there's not the slightest need to sing.

You can still buy reproduction plaques like the one pictured here, but they omit the last two lines of the poem.  – See updates at the end of this post.

Mabel Lucie Attwell was born on the 4th June, 1879 in Mile End, London and was educated at the Coopers’ Company school. Later, she funded her own studies at Heatherley’s and St. Martin’s school of art (1895-1900) but disliking formal training, completed neither course.

Turning to commissions for illustrated gift books, she produced the first of her highly successful children’s annuals in 1922 and three years later, was elected to the Society of Women Artists.

A prolific worker, with a keen business sense, she also designed postcards, posters, figurines, advertisements and calendars. Later her designs were used on ornaments and crockery.

Thanks to Bevi Kinnear from Woolvey Antiques for the following information - Both Mabel Lucy Attwell and her husband Harold Cecil Earnshaw were seeing some success in their respective careers as illustrators when they married on Mabel's 29th birthday, June 4th 1908. Their first child, a daughter, was born on May 13th 1909. Marjorie Joan, known as 'Peggy', was the inspiration for Mabel's "Chubbies". Peggy Earnshaw became an artist in her own right. She married Michael Wickham and went under Peggy Wickham for much of her work. The family moved to the south of London before adding two brothers for Peggy; Max (known as Peter) in 1911 and Brian in 1914. In the mid 1930s, Mabel lost both her youngest son, Brian (1934), and her husband Harold (1937).

At the end of the Second World War, she settled in Fowey, Cornwall, with her son Peter and remained there until her death in 1964.

Mabel Lucie Attwell illustrations were extremely popular when I was growing up, and no birthday or Christmas was complete without a card featuring one of her winsome children. I recall carefully pasting them into a scrap album, but I've no idea what happened to it when I grew up. Such a shame, I would love to look at it again.

Further reading; Chris Beetles’ biography of Mabel Lucie Attwell, published by Pavilion Books in 1985.

Updates to this post;

I’ve just received an email from ‘John’ reminding me of another line  –

 "And as you've been so often told, Never let the hot run cold"

 Thank you John, I'm not quite sure where the line fits, but I remember it too.

Several people have asked me where they can buy a Mabel Lucie Attwell plaque. My reply is always the same – I've seen them advertised on Amazon and on eBay in the past, but I don't know if there are any available at the moment. The other places  to try are vintage markets/shops. If you know of any other suppliers, please let me know so I can pass the information on. 

Thank you to ‘Shirley’ (see comments) for adding another line - Who will forget the chain to pull

Who leaves the basin nearly full of dirty water, suds of soap and such like things. Not you I hope?

Further update January, 2013.

Florence contacted me to say she also remembers the ‘and as you've been so often told never let the hot run cold’ line and thinks it goes like this;

Please remember - don't forget - never leave the bathroom wet.

Nor leave the soap still in the water that's a thing we never ought'er.

And as you've been so often told never let the hot run cold.
Nor leave the towels about the floor. Nor keep the bath an hour or more when other folks are wanting one. Please don't forget - it isn't done! But if you really do the thing, there's not the slightest need to sing.

It's always worth reading the comments section underneath this post to see if more information has been added.