Returning Home from the Fishing Grounds
& Shore Scene with Trawlers
by William Joseph Julius Caesar Bond

Research by
Catherine Sing & Marie Riley

Returning Home from the Fishing Grounds

Shore Scene with Trawlers

ARTIST

Bond was born on the 22 August 1833 in Knotty Ash, Liverpool.  Baptised William Joseph, Julius Caesar seems to have been self-adopted. The number of letters in his name later caused him to be referred to humorously as ‘The Alphabet Painter’ or ‘Alphabet Bond'.

The son of a Post Office clerk, Bond was educated at Stonyhurst, a Jesuit college in the Ribble Valley. He first trained as a picture restorer and was apprenticed to Thomas Griffiths in Caernarvon. In his own words he then began to ‘sketch a little out of doors’ and after some encouragement took up a career as a painter. He exhibited at the Liverpool Academy (1853-1867), became an associate in 1856 and was a member of the Liverpool Society of Watercolour Painters. He also exhibited at the British Institution and the Royal Academy.

In 1860 he married Jane Douglas Bond, the daughter of a Caernarvon iron- monger. He lived and painted in Caernarvon for a period before returning to Liverpool in 1865.

Initially inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, Bond’s later work was greatly influenced by Turner and he became largely known as a marine and landscape painter. The nineteenth century was a very fertile period for marine painters, particularly in the major ports such as Liverpool, although Bond favoured fishing boats and coastal scenes rather than larger vessels or naval ships.

​There is also evidence that Bond worked in Holland.  The Liverpool Mercury reviewed both View of Amsterdam (18 October 1882) and The Beach at Scheveningen, one of the districts of the Hague, (6 August 1883).  Commenting on the latter, which had recently been donated to the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool,  it stated, 'In this picture Mr Bond challenges comparison with the Dutch masters of marine paintings, meets them on their own ground and measures no less'.

Bond died on 29 March 1926 at Freshfield, Formby.

PAINTINGS

Although painted six years apart, these two paintings are similar in style. Bond tended to use ‘a light bright palette over a white ground’ and intended that his paintings should mature with age.

Small figures of fishermen can be discerned on board the boat in Returning from the Fishing Grounds and there are a number of people in the scene in Shore Scene with Trawlers, including one fisherman handing over a sample of the catch to one of two women sitting onshore on upturned baskets.

Unlike painters from the Newlyn School, Bond did not seem interested in figural painting or depicting the lives of fishermen and their wives. His people are always in miniature, dwarfed by the magnitude of the landscape. Even his boats, though detailed and accurate, are secondary to the vast skies, swirling clouds and tumultuous seas. Like Turner, his paintings have an abstract, impressionistic quality, focusing on the dramatic possibilities of the elements.

The setting for these two works is unknown but as he painted many scenes on the Wirral, Merseyside, this may be a likely location.

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​
Returning Home from the Fishing Grounds 

Acc No          104
Artist              William J J C Bond 
Artist dates    1833-1926
Medium          oil on canvas
Size                91.4 x 71.1 cm
                       (36 x 28 in)
Date painted  1899
Inscr:  Signed (L.R.) and dated '99 Signed and inscribed on the reverse of the frame.








​Shore Scene with Trawlers      

Acc No           164              
Artist               William J J C Bond
Artist dates     1833-1926
​Medium          oil on panel
Size                55.9 x 85.1 cm
                       (22 x 33.5 in)
Date painted  1893
Inscr:  Signed (L.R.) and dated '93

Both paintings were donated by:
John Ingham 1916-1974
197 St Leonards Road East, St Annes 
Date donated 26 July 1954

DONOR

According to the General Record Office births index, John Ingham seems to have been born in St Annes in 1916. He worked for Inghams, a firm of painters and decorators in Back St Annes Rd West that was established by his father, Wilfred. They advertised as ‘specialists in sky signs, fascias and posters. (1)

The family were living in St Albans Road in 1911 but by 1934 Wilfred and his family had moved to St Leonards Road East. (2) John seems to have taken over the business after his father’s death in 1941 and was still resident in St Leonards Road East when he donated the painting thirteen years later. (3)


REFERENCES ​ - Artist

Merseyside Painters People & Places,
Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, Merseyside County Council (1978)
Census
Baptismal entry, St Mary’s RC Church, Liverpool, Liverpool Record Office, or online at ancestry.com
Probate record dated 16 Sept 1926 giving date of death can also be found at ancestry.com or at Lancashire Record Office (England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), (1858-1966)
General Record Office Records: July-Aug-Sept 1860, District Bangor, Vol 11b, p600 (marriage record)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/painted_by/william-joseph-julius-caesar-bond#/search/painted_by/william-joseph-julius-caesar-bond?=&page=1

REFERENCES - Donor

(1) Barratts Directory of Blackpool & Fylde Districts 1952-3
(2)  http://www.amounderness.co.uk/1934_i.html
(3)  Probate Records for Wilfred Ingham