The following were recently digitised for the online collection:
Author Archives: harpmandoodle
New Items Added to the Collection
More than 100 items have entered the collection. The task to digitise them is underway. Here is the first 12 items, including postcards and photographs. High resolution files are always available for non commercial usage. At this time we have a Bostock and Wombwell image being displayed at exhibitions in the South West of England, under the Devon Remembers Heritage Project, World War I.
The Data Protection laws and keeping you informed
I have circulated an email to all email addresses on the database. If you do not wish to be kept informed on new entries to the blog and website, then do nothing. Your email address will be removed from the database.
If you wish to be kept informed, then please reply to the email with ‘Subscribe’ in the title or contents section.
Bartholomew Fair Watercolour by Charles Green R.I. (1840 – 1898)
Whilst researching for volume two of the George Wombwell biography, I discovered a November 1949 article in the popular newsapaper The Sphere concerning Charles Green’s depiction of Bartholomew Fair in central London. It referred to its place in a collection under the aegis of The National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes, which had been founded by Walter Hutchinson (1887 – 1950) during 1949. It consisted of over 3600 paintings, prints and other works, which belonged to Hutchinson and adorned his house in London: Hutchinson House. Formerly known as Derby House, Stratford Place, the house was originally built for Edward Stratford, the Second Earl of Aldborough in 1776 – 1777. The current occupants are the Orient Club which have maintained residence since 1962.
There is a catalogue of items from the collection.
National Gallery of British Sports & Pastimes (LONDON) – The First 600 Selected Pictures. National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes … List of sports and pastimes, etc. (London, c.1950)
Following Hutchinson’s death, and the breakup of the Sports and Pastimes Gallery, all works were offered up for auction. The current whereabouts of Green’s painting is not known and there is no record of its existence in the Courtauld’s Witt Archives (as of summer 2017). The Sphere article is quite sparce, but describes a busy scene, full of incidents after the manner of Frith. The entertainments include Wombwell’s Menageire (rear left), swings, roundabouts and all the fun of the fair. In the background is the entrance to Bartholomew’s Hospital. It is probably the most representative of all views of Bartholomew Fair, although it must have been painted after 1855, the closing date of the fair.
Green was a well known illustrator for the works of Charles Dickens and other examples of his work can be found in collections such as those of the Victoria and Albert museum in central London.
This painting was excluded from the biography due to insumountable, multiple copyright issues, and is published here for the purposes of non-commercial research or private study, reference, criticism or review or news reporting, of not more than one item (article or page) from any one issue of a newspaper of periodical. Copyright issues should not be allowed to interfere with the discovery of hitherto unknown artworks from being researched and presented for public display.
Any information concering the current location of the watercolour would be gratefully received.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biogrpahy
I received a reply to my campaign to get the Dictionary upated, in view of the recently released biography (Vols I and II). It is reproduced here. At last,I feel we are getting the nation to change their view on George Wombwell’s life. Of course, I have no way of knowing when and ‘if’ the Dictionary will be updated. You can be assured that I will continue the campaign if they do not take into account the contents of the premier biography of George Wombwell, celebrated Menagerist.
Georgewombwell.com archives now simple image pages
We have recently changed the way we store the Collection’s digital records. This was because the previous system was not compatible with new hosting requrements, or were difficult to move between hosting companies.
The Collection’s archives, formerly held in a database format, are now simple pages of images under the categories:
Art and artefacts
Carte de Visite
Cartoons and Satire
Coins and Tokens
Maps and Plans
Newspapers and Journals
Photographs and Illustration
Postcards
Programmes
Publications
Unsorted
The text relating to each item has been lost, so it will be recreated over time. If you have any questions about a particular item then ask and you shall know!
New Book: George Wombwell the Celebrated Menagerist – Events at Warwick
This is the first in the series of three books on Wombwell, all available from Amazon stores or post free from the Wombwell Collection in the UK.
Buy via Amazon UKPost Free