Margaret ‘Peggy’ MacGregor Angus was born in Coronel, Chile on 9 November 1904, to Scottish parents. While still a young child, she returned to the UK with her parents, who settled in London. Following studies at the Royal College of Art, Angus established herself as a designer in the Arts and Crafts Movement tradition.
Artist, designer, educator, and master craftswoman, Margaret ‘Peggy’ MacGregor Angus was born on 9 November 1904 in Coronel, Chile, to Scottish parents, David Angus and Mary Wilson. Her father was a railway engineer and mother trained as a schoolteacher. Despite her Chilean birthplace, Angus strongly identified with her Scottish heritage and was brought up in England after her family emigrated in 1909, settling in Muswell Hill, north London. Her early education was shaped by her mother, a teacher who instructed her at home, before she attended North London Collegiate School (NLCS). Angus quickly advanced in the field and earned a scholarship to the Royal College of Art (RCA), where she studied from 1922 to 1926. To support herself financially, she completed a teacher training programme and secured her first teaching position in 1925. During her time at the RCA, she developed friendships with influential figures in British art, including Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden. Their influence, alongside the ideals of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, profoundly shaped her approach to design and craftsmanship. In 1932, Angus visited Russia as part of a study tour for art educators and as a delegate of the Art Masters Association. She would later encourage her students to explore the Soviet Union, leading to her nickname ‘Red Angus’. Upon her return to the UK, she played a key role in establishing the Artists’ International Association—this left-wing, London-based exhibiting society was formed in response to the social and political upheavals of the 1930s. She was also a friend of Ramsay MacDonald, the Labour Party's first prime minister, and painted him and his family at Chequers in the 1930s (NPG). In the 1960s, Angus again travelled to the Soviet Union, this time alongside her friends Ursula Mommens (born to an Irish immigrant mother) and Pearl Binder (born to a Jewish immigrant father and represented in the Ben Uri Collection), and a delegation of arts educators and via the Society of Cultural Relations.
Angus’s artistic practice encompassed painting, illustration, and industrial design, but she is best known for her pioneering work in tile and wallpaper design. She championed the integration of craftsmanship into everyday life, a philosophy inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement. She is primarily remembered for her hand-block-printed wallpapers, which she began producing commercially in the late 1950s, as well as developing a distinctive faux-marbling technique, known as ‘Angus-ide’, which was employed in large-scale public installations. The intricate, labour-intensive process of her wallpapers involved overprinting emulsion onto designs carved from lino blocks, often with assistance from her daughter, Victoria. While some patterns reflected the geometric minimalism of mid-century design, her most striking works were vibrant, figurative compositions inspired by medieval art. Featuring birds, animals, foliage, and celestial motifs, these large-scale patterns were bold in both design and colour. Some of her most important commissions include: Gatwick Airport (design for glass cladding) and Heathrow Airport (tile design), Susan Lawrence School (design for tile mural) in east London, and the British Pavilion (tile mural design) at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels. Interest in her legacy has grown over time, leading to the publication of two major books: Art for Life: The Story of Peggy Angus by Carolyn Trant (2004), a former pupil, and Peggy Angus: Designer, Teacher, Painter by James Russell (2014), both of which document her multifaceted career. Her work has been exhibited in various institutions, including the Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, in 2014.
Beyond her contributions to art and design, Angus was a dedicated educator and remembered for her unconventional lifestyle. She taught art from her graduation in 1926 until her retirement in 1971, first at North London Collegiate School and later at the Royal College of Art. She spent much of her later life at Furlongs, a modest cottage in East Sussex which became a creative hub for artists and designers, such as Ravilious, who frequently visited and worked there. Angus chose Furlongs because she embraced a simple, outdoor lifestyle, preferring remote locations over urban areas. She is also remembered as an avid traveller who visited most of Europe, the Middle East, India, and Pakistan to study patterns and popular culture, and she spent a year in Indonesia researching folk art. She was also deeply connected to the Roma community. Despite extensive travel, Furlongs remained her artistic and personal sanctuary. From 1938 to 1947, Angus was married to the architect James Maude Richards. They had two children, Victoria and Angus. Peggy Angus died in London, England on 23 October 1993. Her works are part of several UK public collections, including the V&A, National Portrait Gallery, Guildhall Art Gallery, and Fry Art Gallery. Her archive is held at Middlesex University: Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture Collections Centre and at East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Record Office (ESBHRO).
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Peggy Angus]
Publications related to [Peggy Angus] in the Ben Uri Library