WYR_BMGH_H382_1975
Topic: Artist

Does the surname read Traer?

Martin Hopkinson, Entry reviewed by Art UK

1 attachment

Completed, Outcome

This discussion is now closed. The signature on this painting has been firmly identified as that of Henry Edward Spernon Tozer (1864–1955).

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the discussion. To anyone viewing this discussion for the first time, please see below for all the comments that led to this conclusion.

28 comments

Jacinto Regalado,

To me, the initials are H S and the surname is Traer or Truer.

Martin Hopkinson,

see also Cornishartists.org with bibliography 1864 - 1955 associated particularly with the St Just area of West Cornwall
Born on the Isle of Sheppey died in Thursley near Haslemere

Peter Nahum,

Pretty sure that Adrian is right. It all adds up, as does the signature

Kieran Owens,

The signatures in the attached composite, of that from the work in Ardian's link and this discussion's work, are fairly well identical.

1 attachment
Kieran Owens,

Sorry, Adrian, for a slip of the keys.

Putting together basic facts from various web references gives this:

Henry Edward Spernon Tozer, 1864–1955

Born on 5 December 1864, in Sheerness, Kent, he was elder son of the artist Henry Edwin Tozer (1838–1913) and his wife Louisa. His sister Marianne was born in c,1867 and his younger brother Eustace Arthur Tozer in 1869, at Milton, near Gravesend. Eustace was also an artist. By April 1888 the family had moved to Newlyn, Cornwall, Henry later living and working mainly around St Just. He generally painted scenes of country life and was best known for cottage interiors, usually with one or two figures, often elderly. He exhibited and sold one painting at the opening of the Newlyn Art Gallery in 1895 and is also reported to have shown work at Birmingham. His sole exhibit at the Royal Academy, in 1892, was ‘Surf and rocks at the mouth of the cove’ which he sent in giving his address as Cape Cornwall, St Just, Cornwall. His father died at Galmpton, near Salcombe in 1874. His brother Eustace served in the Rifle Brigade in the First World War and died in or near Exeter, where this was registered in March 1931. Henry died, aged 90, on 15 November 1955 at The Clump, Thursley, near Haslemere in Surrey, though when and why he moved there remains to be clarified.

Marcie Doran,

Here are two records related to Henry Edward Spernon Tozer from Ancestry: his marriage certificate and his entry on the 1911 England Census.

He married Mary Ann Fosberry on January 9, 1894, in Thursley, Surrey. Their children were: Philip Henry Spernon Tozer, Edwin John Tozer, Mary Beatrice Kathleen Tozer, Francis William Spernon Tozer and Doris Alicia Tozer.

In 1911 he was shown as “artist (painter) and sub postmaster”. Added details for his work are: “Post office and on own account”. Mary Ann indicated that she “assists in business”.

Thank you Marcie: that answers my suspicions as to 'family reasons' for leaving Cornwall for Surrey, though much earlier than general online sources had so far suggested. It probably makes any assumption that his subjects thereafter were predominantly 'West Country' unreliable.

John Covell,

Henry Spernon Tozer. Subject and signature look typical for this artist.

Having looked at Johnson & Greutner, it seems that they omit this artist altogether by confusing him with his father, Henry Edwin. The latter is more likely to have been the 'Henry E. Tozer' who showed just one coastal marine view at the RA in 1892 from 'Cape Cornwall, St Just'. This was probably Cape Cornwall House, which J&G, also list as address of H.E.S Tozer's artist brother, Eustace, for his one exhibit at the RHA.

It therefore seems likely that J&G's report of two works shown at Birmingham (in 1889 and up to 1892) from Penzance were also the father's. This also means that general report of H.E.S exhibiting and selling one work at the opening of the Newlyn Art Gallery in 1895 is questionable unless the record of that is very explicit.

In sum, a general confusion between a father who did do marine subjects and a son (H.E.S) - sometimes reported to have done them as well as cottage/country scenes, but who probably didn't -and very little of whose work is likely to have been as 'Cornish' as usually reported, given that he lived in Thursley, Surrey, from his marriage at 30 in 1894 (or at least from 1895 when his first son was born there) to his death aged 90 in 1955, and doubling as village postmaster/ shopkeeper there to at least 1939.

Can the specific Birmingham and Newlyn references be more specifically clarified?

Marcie Doran,

That’s all very interesting, Pieter.

Henry Edward Spernon Tozer (H.E.S.) was living in Thursley, Surrey, in 1891. See my post of 30/10/2021 19:40.

His father lived in Cornwall in 1891. Yes, Eustace Tozer was in Cornwall, too. I have attached the 1891 Census record that shows Henry Edwin Tozer and Eustace Arthur Tozer in Cornwall.

Thanks: I missed the 1891 reference but that clarifies what was going on, and in Thursley. Its just the Newlyn and B'ham details that are missing from the picture we now have: how any of them (father and two sons) got into art -or with what training- is another matter.

Marcie Doran,

I’m not sure how you put all that information together so quickly, Pieter. Good work! My research shows that Louisa Jane Tozer passed away in Kingston on Thames in 1904 (see attached). Here is some additional information in several comments due to size of attachments:

Marianne Alice Tozer was born in Sheppey, Kent (see attached). Her date of birth is shown on the 1939 England and Wales Register as December 8, 1866 (see attached). She married Osborne Percy Windsor (1857–1904), an ironmonger, in 1896. Her death in Kingston on Thames, Surrey, was registered in Q1 1958 (see attached).

Marcie Doran,

Louisa Jane Tozer indicated that she was widowed on the 1901 England Census (attached) - she was living in Osborne and Marianne’s home in Kingston on Thames. However, the 1901 England Census record for Henry Edwin Tozer, attached, shows him as married and a “Marine Artist Sculp”, living in a residence in Galmpton, Devon. The head of the household was Bessie Boyns (“Artist (Landscape) Sculp”) and her sister Gertrude Boyns (“Pictorial Photographer”) was also a resident there. He was also living with Bessie and Gertrude on the 1911 England Census but he indicated that he was widowed.

Marcie Doran,

Henry Edwin Tozer and both his sons exhibited with Bessie Boyns in Penzance in 1892 at their “First Annual Exhibition of Pictures and Sketches of Cornish Scenery, etc.” I have attached the extract.

Henry Edwin Tozer and Henry Edward Spernon Tozer both had works in the “collection of oil paintings at Eland’s Gallery” in Exeter as reported in the ‘The Devon and Exeter Daily Gazette’ on August 30, 1894 (see attached).

Thanks Marcie: that looks like a skeleton in the family cupboard. Henry Edwin and his wife had probably separated and he had taken up residence with the much younger and artistic Boynes sisters, while his wife made a respectable public front by living over 200 miles away with her married daughter's family, claiming to be widowed. It's a cover that would be quickly blown today but probably fairly safe then if everyone kept their heads down.

Richard, I'm sorry this slipped my notice just before Christmas and not picked up in the New Year. Pieter, many thanks for the draft biography. I've created a new artist record for Tozer but the image will disappear while Copyright clears.