Susan Ruth Canton is best known as a sculptor. Born in St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, she studied at the Royal Female School of Art 1872–9, where in 1875 she won the gold medal for her statue 'The Dying Cavalier', and the following year won the Princess of Wales first scholarship. In 1881 she exhibited at the Royal Academy a sculpture 'Isthmian Games'. In 1894 she was appointed teacher of modelling at the Royal Female School of Art. She participated in the annual exhibitions of the Society of Women Artists between 1895 and 1909 and she further exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Miniature Society, the Bruton Galleries in London; the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; Leeds City Art Gallery; Nottingham Castle Museum and at Manchester City art Gallery. She spent long periods in Suffolk and her paintings of the Blyth estuary reached a wide public and were reproduced in coloured postcards.
