William Ayerst INGRAM

William Ayerst INGRAM
1855
1913

Ingram was born in Twickenham, Richmond upon Thames, Greater London on 27 April 1855 (GRO) - not in Glasgow, as often quoted, probably from biographies by Martin Hardie (1968) and Wood (even in 2008)! - the son of the Vicar of the parish, who was born in Glasgow and from which the confusion may arise (Ingram's birth certificate is lodged in the WCAA collection as researched and catalogued by George BEDNAR).  As a young man, Ingram had a studio in Chelsea near his artist friend George Percy Jacomb-Hood (1857-1929), who described Ingram as an energetic friend who had been to Australia.

Wood states that he had studied painting with John Steeple (fl1846-d1887) and A W Weedon, probably in London. In 1888 he became the President of the Royal British Colonial Society of Artists, and the founder and President of the Anglo-Australian Society.

From 1882, when in England, he made his home in Falmouth, Cornwall.  Closely associated with the Newlyn Art Colony in both Newlyn and St Ives, in the 1891 Census he was registered as living at Wodehouse Terrace (no number) with a housekeeper to look after the daily duties. In the following year the Street directory for Falmouth states his home to be at No. 11 Wodehouse Terrace, though from that year until 1894, he is identified as living at No. 6.  In 1896 (Cornish Echo) the newspaper announced his marriage to an American, Miss May Martha Fay. 

The 1911 Census shows that the couple were living at Tregurrian in Falmouth, and the entry included mention of friends Harold KNIGHT and his wife Laura KNIGHT. In Falmouth he was considered the most energetic of the small artistic community there. His good friends were Henry Scott TUKE, and John Herbert Eva DOWNING (Jack). These three were all involved with the setting-up of the Falmouth Art Gallery in 1894, and Ingram was Vice-President of the RCPS (1902-04). He died in Falmouth on 20 March, 1913, age 58.

media

Painter of landscapes, coastal and river scenes in oils and watercolours

works and access

Works include: Newlyn Harbour (1884); Fishing boat in the Hayle estuary; Falmouth Harbour; HM Training Ship 'Ganges' Uploading Grain - Falmouth; Restronguet Point and Feock; Mussel gathering at Low Tide; Falmouth Town from the Water; Trawlers at Tenby (1889); The Home Port, Falmouth (1912) FAMAG 1000.41.1; Ship of the Line under Tow (HMS 'Ganges'?) FAMAG 1000.41.2;

Access: Cloud Reflections, at RCM, Truro

exhibitions

Dowdeswells (2)

Whitechapel

RA;,

RBA; 

NWS 1886

Fine Art Society 1888 and 1902

memberships

RCPS 1901-03 (Vice-President 1902-04)

RBA

RI 1907

ROI 1906

misc further info

 Correspondence on living locations in Falmouth (2012), with thanks.

references

Bednar

Brook-Hart

Dowdeswell Exhibition catalogue (repr Hardie 2009)

Hardie, Martin (1968) Water-colour Painting in Britain Vol III (illus p105)

Hardie (2009) Artists in Newlyn and West Cornwall

Johnson & Greutzner (1975) Dictionary of British Artists (wrong birthplace)

Price & Tonkin RCPS

Public Catalogue Foundation (2007) Oil Paintings in Public Ownership in Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly p17 illus, p193 illus

RCPS Annual Reports and Proceedings

Wainwright & Dinn Henry Scott Tuke, Under Canvas

Whitechapel Exhibition catalogue (repr Hardie 2009)

Wood (1995) Victorian Painters (wrong birthplace)

 

 

 

Centre for Whistler Studies, Glasgow (website-wrong birthplace)