EVANS, Wilfred Muir

1865 - 1947

Wilfred Muir Evans was born at Richmond, Surrey in 1865, son of George Evans (1828-9 May 1901), manager of the Randell and Evans estate, King's Cross, London, and his wife Clara Maria Muir (1839-18 November 1920), daughter of James Muir and Maria née Roberts, George and Clara married at St Philip, Kensington on 5 June 1862, Wilfred was the brother-in-law of Violet Muir Evans. In 1871, Wilfred was living at Foxton Villas, 8 Marlborough Road, Richmond, Surrey with his parents, 42-year-old George, born at Herne Bay, Kent and 31-year-old Clara, born at Greenock, Scotland and his four siblings, George Randell 6, born at Brompton, Middlesex, Harold Muir 4 and Percy 2, both born in Richmond, and Wilfred was still with them in 1881. A pupil of Alphonse Legros (1837-1911) and studied at Herkomer's Art School at Bushey and at South Kensington School of Art and in 1891, a 26-year-old artist, lodging at Caldecote Cottage, Caldecote Hill, Aldenham, Bushey, Hertfordshire, the home of police sergeant George Smith and his family. A portrait and figure painter who exhibited at the opening of the New Gallery, London in 1888 a portrait of his mother he also exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the Fine Art Society; Manchester City Art Gallery; New Gallery; Ridley Art Gallery and Royal Institute of Oil Painters from Bushey, Hertfordshire 1887, Richmond, Surrey 1899, Southwold, Suffolk in 1907 and London 1908. He then went to the USA where he married on 16 September 1909, writer Florence Wilkinson at Tarrytown-on-Hudson, New York, and they had one son Christopher Evans, born 1 July 1912. For the years 1910-1913 they travelled in Europe, with prolonged stays in Paris, Normandy, Florence, Italy. In 1918, Wilfred had a studio at Colebrook Road, New Jersey, USA. They must have returned to England as Wilfred, described as a 58-year-old artist, together with his wife 49-year-old Florence, described as a writer, sailed for New York on the Cunard 'Benjamin' on 3 May 1924, when of 19 Endesleigh Street, London WC. Wilfred Muir Evans died at Herrison House, Charminster, Dorchester, Dorset on the 15 April 1947, his headstone is in Charminster Cemetery.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from The Manor House, Southwold, Suffolk
1907 415 A Suffolk Estuary
from 1 Launceston Place, Kensington, London
1908 The Mill on the Marsh
         The Catch: The Old Bridge

Wilfred Muir Evans's wife, Florence Wilkinson was born in Tarrytown, New York on 6 September 1878. Miss Wilkinson studied at Chicago University and other American colleges and afterwards at the Sorbonne and the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris. She is the author of several novels, of which the best known are: 'The Lady of the Flag Flowers', 'The Strength of the Hills', and 'The Silent Door'; and also of one or two volumes of plays, but her best work is found in her poetry of which she has written two volumes: 'The Far Country', 1906, and 'The Ride Home', 1913. Her death date is undiscovered and 1950 is a circa date.

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Works by This Artist