LONGE, William Verner

1857 - 1924

William Verner Longe was baptised at Hemingstone, near Ipswich on 31 May 1857, eldest child of Revd John Longe (20 August 1832-11 December 1916) and his wife Maria Elizabeth Verner Martin (1839-20 July 1930), only daughter of Richard Bartholmew Martin of Hemingstone Hall, who married at Heminstone Church, Suffolk on 12 June 1856, William was a cousin of Louisa Roberta Longe. In 1861, William was a 3-year-old, living at Springfield House, Norwich Road, Ipswich with his parents, 28 year old John, born Combs, Suffolk and 27-year-old Maria, born in France, and two siblings, Springfield House had been the home of the Martin family of Coddenham for many years but has since been demolished. By 1871, William's father was curate at Tuddenham St Martin, near Ipswich and the family were living at the Tuddenham Vicarage, now with six children, William 13, John Martin 12, Minnie Arabella 11, Herbert Davy 9, Charles Richard 6 and Arthur Bacon 2 and they retained five indoor staff. William studied at Ipswich School of Art and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In 1881, 23 year old William ‘an artist’ was living at Sternfield Rectory, near Aldeburgh, Suffolk, where his father was the local rector, with his mother and five siblings and they were still there in 1891. William was a talented equestrian and landscape artist and a member of the Ipswich Fine Art Club 1875-1891 and exhibited from Sternfield Rectory from 1875 when he had ten pictures on show and in 1881 six pictures, oils ‘Polly’ and 'Sunrise on the Sea' and watercolours 'Stranded', 'A Winter Evening', 'Early Morning' and 'A Winter Moon', in 1882 six pictures, oils two entitled 'A Hunting Sketch' and 'A Portrait' and three watercolours 'Blackheath, near Aldeburgh', 'The Keeper's Cottage, Sternfield' and 'In Perils of Waters' and in 1883 four watercolours including 'Hunting Sketch'. In 1889 he had on show five pictures 'The Lowing Herd', 'Late with the Rising Moon', 'Fruit' and 'Watching' and continued to exhibit regularly with his last five exhibits being in 1923 'Flies', 'The Last Days of the Old Inn, Slaughden', 'Haysel Time', 'The Two Thousand Guineas' and 'Ipswich from Whitton Fields', two of the renamed pictures were on show at the Club centenary in 1974 a watercolour 'The Old Inn at Slaughden' and an oil 'The Canal Turn'. He also exhibited at the Bury St Edmund's Fine Art Society in 1882 several equestrian pictures, including 'Hunting Sketches' which was highly commended and amongst his other fine equestrian scenes included ‘The Grand National’ (1896), ‘The Gold Cup, Ascot’ (1897), ‘The Finish of the St Leger’ (1904), six watercolours of ‘The Cottenham Races’ (1891), and ‘The Grand National’ (1912) and a portrait of the Prince of Wales’s horse ‘Diamond Jubilee’, winner of the 2000 guineas, the Derby and the St Leger in 1900. In 1901, a 43-year-old artist, a visitor at Knowsley Park, Lancashire, the home of James John Hornby, a land agent. William married at St Luke's, Redcliffe Square, South Kensington, London on 5 January 1905, Marjory Brooke (4 October 1881-16 April 1949), second daughter of Reginald Brooke of Lower Old Park, Farnham, and granddaughter of Francis Capper Brooke (1810-1886) of Ufford Park, Woodbridge, her mother was Jane Austin of the extremely wealthy family of Brandeston Hall, Suffolk. In 1911, they were living at Sternfield Rectory, with a 5-year-old daughter Dorothy Verner, born at Sternfield. William Verner Longe died at Springfield House, Norwich Road, Ipswich on 19 September 1924, aged 67.

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Works by This Artist