Painter, born in Lewisham, southeast London, as Catherina (later changed to Catherine; in middle age, becoming a Roman Catholic, she took St Catherine of Siena as her patron saint) Dawson Giles, who studied at Goldsmiths’ Institute, in 1900 transferring to the Royal Academy Schools, which she found unsympathetic, so after three years moved to Etaples, France, to paint from the model with the American artist Max Bohm. There she met the painter Jessica Dismorr, with whom she painted on trips in France and Italy. Manchester City Art Gallery holds Giles’ Snow Scene, Etaples, presented in 1911. During World War I Giles worked as a nurse and in the War Office. She travelled on the continent in the inter-war years, the art of Siena, mountains and rock formations influencing her pictures.