Complex sentence: After encouragement from Charles Eastlake and Thomas Heatherley Herford submitted several drawings to the Academy's admissions tutors signed "L. Herford" thus leading to the assumption that she was a man.
Split into simpler sentences: After encouragement from Charles Eastlake and Thomas Heatherley, Herford submitted several drawings to the Academy's admissions tutors signed "L. Herford". The use of initials masked her gender, leading to the assumption that she was a man.