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Born in Newfoundland in 1858. He came to Bristol with his widowed mother while still a child and lived in Cotham Grove. He studied art at Karlsruhe in Germany and on return made painting his profession, living for a time in Edinburgh. He gained a reputation for landscape painting, notably woodland scenes decked with flowers. In 1896 he was elected a member of the RWA. He was of a slight stature with a quiet and cheerful manner. He made many friends among the local artists who would drop into to his studio, a glazed lean-to in Kingsdown. He suggested forming a group to meet regularly and paint together, but was told that Muller, Prout and Samuel Jackson had also tried and failed. However remembering his student days in Karlsruhe with evenings spent singing and drinking beer, he was not discouraged. He gathered together a mixture of well known local artists, experienced teachers and young ambitious artists yet to make their mark. At first he arranged meetings at members` own houses and then at George Lingford`s studio in Corn St. In 1904 they became a properly constituted society and adopted the name Bristol Savages. Ernest Ehlers was elected the first President. In 1906 they elected James Fuller Eberle a lay member, and he, at Brandon Cottage, part of his business premises, provided them with a large and attractive meeting place which they used until 1920 when they moved into the Wigwam. In 1907 he married Kate Collins and they lived at 10, Clyde Rd. where his son Geoffrey was born. In 1913 they moved to 13, Vyvyan Terrace where they lived until he died in 1943 aged 85. He followed the French Impressionists in painting from nature, and would usually travel around on his bicycle. He became a well known figure, wearing a Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers and carrying unbelievably large amounts of paraphernalia. (Cecil Broome)
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