BROWNLOW, George Washington

1835 - 1876

George Washington Brownlow

George Washington Brownlow was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland in 1835, third son of Stephen Brownlow (c1807-10 July 1883), a cordwainer (bootmaker) and his wife Maria (1810-1879), but was not baptised at Bulmer, Essex until 21 December 1859. In 1841 the family were living at Thompson Street, All Saints, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 32-year-old Stephen and 31-year-old Maria, with children Stephen 12, James 10, Washington 6 and William 2. By 1851 they had moved to Wesley Street, All Saints with the addition of two more children Mary 8 and Robert 2, they were all born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. George's artist brother was Stephen Brownlow (1828-1896), originally a cordwainer, who took evening classes at Newcastle School of Art and became a well-known artist at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. George received early tuition from William Bell Scott (1811-1890), principal of the government Newcastle School of Art and then enrolled at Royal Academy Schools and by 1860 was exhibiting widely. In 1861 George was a 25-year-old artist, boarding at 14 Anderson Street, Chelsea, London, the home of the Hudson family and in 1871 a visitor at Stanley House, King's Road, Chelsea, the home of the Veitch family. George Washington Brownlow was particularly renowned for his genre paintings with children in oils, but also painted landscapes and portraits and often painted scenes in Scotland and Ireland. He exhibited at the Royal Academy; the Royal Scottish Academy 1859 and the Royal Association for the Promotion of Fine Arts in Scotland, and elsewhere. In 1866 the pulpit of Walter Belchamp church in Essex was adorned with the pictures of the four evangelists by Brownlow and his engravings are included in a series of Fulcher's Ladies' Sudbury Pocket Books. George Washington Brownlow died at the residence of John Cox Lynch, Esq., surgeon, of 16 Sepulchre Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, on 23 July 1876, aged 41, and was buried in Walter Belchamp churchyard on 26 July 1876. The following year a memorial window was placed near to his seat in Belchamp Walter church, by Samuel Raymond.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from South Parade, Queen's Elm, Brompton
1860 57 The Mother's Lesson: cottage interior at Wishaw, Lancashire
         441 Last Century's great revivalist preaching at Epworth Church, Lincolnshire
from 14 Anderson Street, King's Road, Chelsea
1861 56 A Claddagh Fisherman's Fireside
from Fern Lodge, Belchamp Walter, Sudbury, Suffolk
1865 593 Straw Platting School in Essex
from 15 Great James Street, Bedford Row
1866 137 A Findon Fisherman's Fireside
from Fern Lodge, Belchamp Walter, Sudbury, Suffolk
1869 57 The First Lesson in Straw Platting
1872 1101 The Last Stile Homewards
1875 303 The Sunny Hours of Childhood




Works by This Artist