Courtyard Scene, Kings Arms, Kendal
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Research by Marjorie Gregson
Acc No 128 Artist Fred Balshaw Artist dates 1860-1936 Medium watercolour Size 38.1 x 26.7 cm (15 X 10.5 in) Date painted unknown Donor The artist’s daughter, Mrs Freda Doeg, Weston-Super-Mare, formerly of 6 Seventh Avenue, Blackpool Date donated 29 October 1945 |
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ARTIST
Fred Balshaw was a prolific and versatile genre painter of landscapes, figures and portraits who was born in 1860 in Bolton, Lancashire, the son of Joseph and Sarah, nee Haslam. He appeared on the 1881 census as living in Little Bolton and was described as a general clerk in the county court. In the 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses he was still in Bolton but his occupation was given as artist. Balshaw had strong links with the Fylde. In 1884 he was a founder member of the Blackpool Sketching Club and a member of the Fylde Art Society and Sketching Club, becoming its Honorary Secretary in 1926. He was also President of Blackpool Art Society in 1930. Balshaw was a regular exhibitor between 1888 and 1914, mostly in the North of England, including Manchester, Rochdale and Bolton, where his painting A Fylde Farm was shown in 1908. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy: Moor and Stream (1896) On the Canal, Dordrecht (1904) Lancashire Moulding Shop (1905) The Lytham St Annes Art Society archive file for 1923 shows Balshaw exhibiting 10 artworks in their 7th Annual Exhibition, one of them being 'Ditchling, Sussex' (kindly lent by Mrs Monkhouse). His average price was around 7 guineas. Catalogue No.122 was 'Portrait of R H Elliot', kindly lent by the sitter, who was a founder member of the LSAAS in 1912 and also head of the Art School. The 1925 Annual Exhibition records that he exhibited nine works and also details a contribution by Mrs Balshaw entitled 'A Bazaar Costume Portrait' (pastel). A reproduction of his painting, Ordered to the Front, was purchased by Mr C W Macara of St Annes with the object of stimulating interest in his National Relief Fund. The Buckinghamshire Herald reported on 24 February 1900 that, 'the reduced reproduction, on cards ready for framing, cost 6d and sold rapidly'. Charles Macara started Lifeboat Saturdays for the RNLI in Manchester, originally to establish a fund for the widows and orphans of 'The Mexico' disaster. He knew many of the men who died and wished to be buried near them, as he was, close to the door of St Annes Church. An article in The Studio: Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art, 1912, carried an advertisement stating that 'Fred Balshaw would be continuing his sketching classes in September and October in Kilkree, County Clare'. One of the missing pictures is of Kilkree. Balshaw’s painting of a local Pilling character, The Village Violin Maker, was shown at Fylde Art Society’s 36th Annual Exhibition held in 1921 at the Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool. Bolton Library and Museum Services stated that: 'From 1897 Bolton Council began to buy a small number of works by contemporary British artists (often from the North West) usually from summer exhibitions of “modern paintings” held at Mere Hall. This included significant Bolton artists such as Fred Balshaw.......' In addition to several portraits of past Mayors of Bolton by Balshaw, Bolton Council owns: Landscape in Northern Ireland Life Study of a Man Life Study of a Woman Firwood Fold The Last Boat Other works include: Benjamin Alty Grundy Art Gallery Buildings by a Creek (1893) Bushey Museum and Art Gallery James Holmes Burnley, Towneley Art Gallery and Museum Adie’s Station Scalloway Scalloway Museum In 1936 Balshaw was living at Stone House, Blackpool Road, Lea, near Preston. Unfortunately, he died on 6 October that year in Preston Royal Infirmary as a result of injuries received when knocked down by a motor cattle wagon on the Preston to Blackpool Road at Lea. PAINTING The origin of the hotel is unknown but it probably dates from medieval times; the first mention of it was in 1696. It was the first hotel in Kendal. One of its bedrooms was known as 'the Black Hole of Calcutta' because of the darkness of the stairs that led down to it. It was was one of the famous coaching inns on the road from London to Scotland. From 1763 a coach named 'The Flying Machine' left the hotel twice a week, taking three days to reach London. It is reported that at a dinner in 1841, a pie was served containing an amazing variety of contents; it was 7 feet in circumferences, 10 inches deep and weighed 5 stone 8 pounds (32kg). In 1934 the hotel closed and the building and those around it were developed into a row of modern shops. The vertical format of the painting gives height to the scene as does the lone, small figure on the left of the courtyard. The narrowing of the courtyard and the use of darker colours in the foreground lead us into the picture giving it depth. We have a sense of looking in on the scene. It is a harmonious composition in complementary colours with no dominating element. One can imagine the artist painting this watercolour sketch as a natural light falls on the buildings below. It is warm, shadows are formed and windows opened as the work of the day continues. DONOR Fred Balshaw married Mary Helena Francks in Bolton in 1886 and it was their younger daughter, Freda Francks Balshaw, born in 1894, who was the donor. Mary Helena was born in Bolton in 1861 and died in the Fylde in 1931. Freda married Charles Sheffield Doeg in 1917 at the Methodist Church in Rawcliffe Street, South Shore, Blackpool. Charles Doeg was born in 1892 in Scotby, near Carlisle and was educated at Carlisle Grammar School. In the 1911 census he was described as a clerk. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War and received the Silver War Badge, which honoured those who were discharged because of wounds or illness. Their son, Charles, was born in the Fylde in 1918. The family lived for a time at 6 Seventh Avenue, South Shore, Blackpool, certainly from 1924 to 1934. Charles Sheffield Doeg died in Barnet, Hertfordshire in 1967 and Freda in Bournemouth in 1986. |
REFERENCES
www.findmypast.co.uk www.hughespaper.com Wright, Christopher British and Irish paintings in Public Collections www.bbc.co.uk/yourpaintings www.boltonmuseums.org.uk Barrett’s Directories Hughes, Trevor & Nicholls, Arthur The Yards of Kendal, pub.2017 Note: This is the only one of six paintings by Balshaw, donated by his daughter, which has presently been located. The missing ones are: Portrait study of Captain Daniel Forshaw of Lytham, Master Mariner acc no 146 Wyre Dock, Fleetwood ) Vicarage Gardens, Pilling ) Pleasure Beach, Blackpool ) Kilkree ) no acc nos |
