Susan Isabel Dacre Manchester Art Gallery own a poignant oil painting Italian Women In Church.Throughout her career her portraits were admired in Italy, England and Paris.
After living in London for a time she returned to Manchester in 1883 and shared a studio in 10 King Street with the artist Mary Florence Monkhouse. After much campaigning by both Dacre and Monkhouse in 1897 Dacre was made a member of the council of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts and Monkhouse was appointed auditor.
At the Royal Jubilee Exhibition, Manchester 1887 she had her work on display, and assisted Ford Madox Brown with the decoration of the exhibition’s dome.
Dacre was a noted feminist and suffragette. With Annie Swynnerton she founded the Manchester Society of Women Artists in 1876; Dacre also served as president of the organization. For a decade (1885–95), Dacre was a member of the executive committee of the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage.
Dacre's portrait of feminist editor Lydia Becker is one of her best-known works.
Susan W Thomson, Manchester’s Victorian Art Scene And Its Unrecognised Artists, Manchester Art Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9554619-0-3

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