Henry Randle Heys

Research by Marjorie Gregson

The Watering Place

Henry also donated two other oil paintings in 1946:
Christ Blessing the Little Children
by Mather Brown
​Mother and Daughter
by Sir Thomas Lawrence  (unlocated)

Henry Randle Heys, the donor of The Watering Place by William Shayer, was born in 1916 in Ramsbottom, Lancashire to Henry Howarth Heys (1880-1937) and Eveline Ellen, nee Armstrong (1879-1939). The 1911 census gives Henry Howarth Heys'  occupation as a cloth buyer.  Henry Howarth Heys was a Captain in the 5th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment in World War I and died in Lytham in 1937, having lived at Westfield, Clifton Drive from at least 1929.

His father, William Randle Heys (1846-1883), was also a yarn merchant of Ramsbottom and was a stalwart of the community. In St Paul’s Church, Ramsbottom, there is a window dedicated to William’s memory entitled Christ Walking on the Sea.

Henry Randle Heys, who served in World War II, died in 1951, leaving £47,917.  His last known address was 14 Clifton Drive, St Annes. It was through his generosity that a communion rail was installed in St Paul’s to mark the long association of his family
​with the church.