HARDY, William Kimber

1840 - 1915

William Kimber Hardy was born at Huntingdon, York, Yorkshire on 2 December 1840, son of Charles Hardy, teacher of music, and his wife Sarah née Blake, who married at the Cathedral, Manchester on 31 December 1833. In 1851, William was a 10-year-old, living at Lowther Street, York with his parents, 40-year-old Charles and 42-year-old Sarah with his three siblings, Ann Spence 14, Sarah Kimber 12 and Charles 4, all born in Yorkshire but by 1861 they had moved to Lambeth, London with his mother now a widow and William is recorded as an 'architect's assistant'. William married at the Wesleyan Chapel, Bury St Edmund's, Suffolk on 11 August 1870, Sarah Rebekah Spanton (1850-30 January 1937), sister of William Silas Spanton. In 1871 a Wesleyan Methodist Minister a visitor at Brickwall Farm, Bacton, Suffolk, the home of the Finbow family. In 1881, a 40-year-old Methodist Minister, living at 22 Victoria Road, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk with his 30-year-old wife Sarah and children Kate Sarah 9, born at Diss, William Spanton 7, born at Stoke Ferry, Annie Spence 5, and Mary Kimber 3, both born at Melton Mowbray. By 1881 the family had moved to Westfield Road, Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire with the addition of three sons Charles John Spence 9, born at Great Yarmouth, Arthur Spence 8 and Thomas Kimber 7, both born at Luton, Bedfordshire. In 1887 he exhibited at the Bury St Edmund's Fine Art Society, a watercolour 'Interior of St Mary's Church' with the comment 'the details of which are cleverly drawn, thought the omission of the gas standards robs the picture of the modern appearance of the church'. He also made a conjectural drawing of Bury St Edmund's Abbey. By 1901 he had moved to Waterloo Road, Wellington, Shropshire but by 1911 William Kimber Hardywas back in Bury St Edmund's living at 8 Crown Street where he died on 31 May 1915 and buried in the local cemetery on 3 May. He left a widow, who died on 30 January 1937, aged 86, four sons and two daughters.

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Works by This Artist