The Old Watermill
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Research by Angela Brown and Marjorie Gregson
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Acc No 12
Artist Thomas Creswick
Artist dates 1811-1869
Medium oil on canvas
Size 50.8 x 77cm (20 x 30.25 in)
Date painted 1857
Inscr: signed and dated 1857 (L.R.)
Date donated Wykeham Parry, 3 Links View,
Ansdell, Lytham St Annes
Donor September 1936
Note: The present day Betws-y-Coed appears in the title above as it was spelt when the picture was painted in 1857
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Artist Thomas Creswick
Artist dates 1811-1869
Medium oil on canvas
Size 50.8 x 77cm (20 x 30.25 in)
Date painted 1857
Inscr: signed and dated 1857 (L.R.)
Date donated Wykeham Parry, 3 Links View,
Ansdell, Lytham St Annes
Donor September 1936
Note: The present day Betws-y-Coed appears in the title above as it was spelt when the picture was painted in 1857
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ARTIST
Thomas Creswick, born 5 February 1811, was an English landscape painter and illustrator, born in Sheffield and educated near Birmingham. He was a popular, successful landscape painter and was elected to The Royal Academy in 1851. (1) He is listed as one of the Birmingham School of landscape artists (2) and was also part of the first recorded artists colony which assembled in Betws-y-Coed. (3) Although Creswick never resided in Betws-y-Coed, he was a frequent visitor and painted there extensively. His first recorded sketches of the area were possibly in 1827 or 1828 when his sketch books documented his travelling through Betws-y-Coed from the North. (4) Creswick, along with a fellow Birmingham artist, David Cox, were instrumental in forming Betws-y-Coed as a popular tourist destination with their illustrations to the travel guide, 'Wanderings and Excursions in North Wales' by Thomas Roscoe. Several of Creswick’s paintings of the area are in public ownership, including a painting of the River Llugwy in Betws-y-Coed, which is housed at The Harris Museum, Preston. (6) Creswick died on the 28 December 1869. PAINTING Painted in oil on canvas, and signed 'T Creswick 1857' in the bottom right hand corner, this scene is typical of Thomas Creswick’s work. The river that runs centrally through the painting could be one of three that meet at Betws-y-Coed; the River Conwy meets two of its three tributaries flowing from the west, the Llugwy and the Lledr. It is difficult to discern the location from the mountain skyline as the mountains surrounding Betws-y-Coed are now heavily forested following a conifer planting exercise after the First World War. There are two old watermills remaining at Betws-y-Coed, but neither resemble the one in the painting. The watermill is an interesting focal point to the painting but it could also represent the importance and the power of the rivers that run through the area. Creswick introduced figures and cattle to his landscape, and whilst the figures here are dressed in typical working class attire, they are bright and fresh. On close examination the figures appear to further symbolise the river’s importance. A man to the left of the river is fishing whilst a woman in a bonnet sits close by. Across the bank of the river another woman, with sleeves rolled up, walks off towards a small herd of cattle grazing in a field by the river. She is holding a wooden pail in her left hand and a wooden milking stool under her right arm. The painting appears to be an idealisation of working life by the river rather than social realism. Benezit's Guide has no record of this painting. However, it does note Creswick’s style around this point in his career (1855), stating that his paintings '….. often display a mechanical, sentimental response to their subject owing more in spirit to pastoral mythology ….. than to the realities of contemporary rural life'. (6) The scene was painted at the height of Betws-y-Coed’s popularity with artists (between 1850 and 1880) (7) and Creswick was very much credited with that success. After his death in 1870 'The Art Journal' published an engraving of The Church at Bettws-Y-Coed by Thomas Creswick with the following eulogy: "Few rural areas have been made so familiar to us by the hand of the artist as the picturesque village and neighbourhood of Betws-y-Coed". (4) This painting was typical of collectors of Victorian artwork. Creswick was known to have collaborated with Frith and Ansdell, both of whom have paintings in the Lytham St Annes Art Collection. The Dictionary of National Biography states 'Creswick had but a moderate estimate of his own power as a painter and as a consequence his works always found purchasers and are treasured among many private collections in England'. (1) DONOR Wykeham Parry was born on the Fylde in 1882 to Henry Egerton Isaacson Parry and Grace Jennings Musgrave and christened at St John’s Church, Blackpool. The family home was The Woodlands, Breck Road, Poulton. Henry was a solicitor and also registrar at both Blackpool County Court and Fleetwood. His practices were at 43 Queen Street, Blackpool and 10 West Crescent, St Annes. Wykeham, who was educated at Arnold School, Blackpool, also became a solicitor and Commissioner for Oaths. However, on both the census of 1901 and 1911 there is no mention of Grace and there appears to have been a good, but sad, reason for this. In 1891 Grace had been charged with cruelty to two of her children, Clara and Constance, who were both under the age of 16 when the offences had taken place. Tragically, Clara had died the previous year. There were found to be mitigating circumstances as Grace had borne ten children in rapid succession and, although a devoted mother, had not had enough rest to “restore the balance of her mind". She was fined and Constance removed from her custody. Wykeham himself had received adverse publicity when, on two occasions, he had travelled in first class on a third class train ticket, first in 1901 and again in 1922. When Henry retired in 1920 after 35 years as registrar Wykeham resigned as co-registrar to concentrate on private practice. In 1928 Wykeham married Jessie Pearson. On the 1939 Register he was living at 3 Links View, Ansdell with his housekeeper, Dorothy Ward, but Jessie was residing with her mother in a flat in Southport. Wykeham was a great supporter of the community, presenting The Wykeham Parry Cup for tap dancing at the Lytham Dance Festival in 1939, having also donated awards for singing and swimming. He was also a churchwarden in Poulton. In 1936 he offered to present a painting by Thomas Creswick to the Collection, as well as offering to loan other paintings for exhibition. The picture by Creswick was not given a title. However, only one Thomas Creswick is presently in the Lytham St Annes Art Collection, The Old Watermill near Bettws-Y-Coed, so in all probability this is the one donated by Parry. Alas, his career ended somewhat ignominiously as in 1943 he was struck off by the Disciplinary Committee, under the Solicitors’ Act, 1932-41. So, in 1944, when his mother died in The Retreat in Lancaster, the Will stated administraton was granted to Wykeham Parry of “no occupation”. Wykeham died at 3 Links View in November 1946. 
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REFERENCES
(1) Dictionary of National Biography, volume 1 (2) Wikipedia (3) Betws-y-Coed Tourist Information (4) Lord, Peter, The Betws-y-Coed Artists Colony 1844-1914 (5) BBC Your Paintings (6) Benezit Guide (7) Snowdonia Arts Festival Guide (History of the Artists Colony) REFERENCES (Wykeham Parry) www.findmypast /censuses and newspaper articles www.amounderness.co.uk https://probatesearch.service.gov./wills The Lytham St Annes Town Clerk's file entitled Municipal Art Gallery - 11 Jan 1934 - 22 Nov 1948, held at the Lancashire Archives, Preston |
