Tidmarsh, Henry Edward
1855-1939

Artist, born on 7 February 1855 into a WM home in Islington, London where craftsmanship and music were highly valued. He was offered a place in his father's carpentry firm, but studied to become an artist, becoming known as a book illustrator (e.g. of W.A. Shaw's Manchester Old and New, 1896) and as a prolific water-colourist. From the 1880s he painted a series of London scenes and buildings (now in the Guildhall Library) and of English cathedrals. He also painted a number of Methodist scenes and exhibited at the RA and elsewhere. A gentle man of strong principles, he was a Sunday School teacher at High Barnet Methodist Church, local preacher, teetotaller, pacifist, vegetarian and Socialist whose views and faith were reflected in his art. He died at Muswell Hill on 19 March 1939. The frescoes he painted at High Barnet church and at Archway Central Hall (his last major assignment) have not survived in the hands of later generations.

Sources
  • Geoffrey E. Milburn, 'A Methodist Artist Rediscovered', in WHS Proceedings, 49 pp.208-21
  • R. Hyde (ed.), The Streets of London 1880-1928: evocative watercolours by H.E. Tidmarsh (1993)

Occupations

Entry written by: PSF
Category: Person
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