TODD, Henry George

1847 - 1898

Henry George Todd was born at 27 St John’s Street, Bury St Edmund’s on 20 January 1847, son of George Todd, a decorative artist, and his wife Sophia née Spencer (9 Mary 1818-January 1893) who married at St Mary's church, Bury St Edmund’s on 8 April 1845. Henry attended a school at Bury St Edmund’s, his father was an artist and grainer, and young George was apprenticed to him and trained in decorating and signwriting. At the age of 18, Henry enrolled in an art school and his progress determined that he studied at the Royal Kensington School of Art, now the Royal College of Art. After a period working in his father's decoration & gilding business in Bury St Edmund's when both Henry and his father George exhibited their works in the Todd's St Andrew's Street North shop. About the age of 27 Henry came to Ipswich and entered the employ of Alfred Stearn & Son, the then most important decorating company in the town, working in design, decoration, and gilding, being commissioned by local traders for their shopfronts which were considered by many as works of art. Although Henry was working full time, he still found time to paint his still life pictures and Suffolk landscapes and in 1871, was an artist, boarding with Mary Schulen, pottery manufacturer at 1 Rope Walk, Ipswich. He married the following year, 21-year-old Ellen Lucy Quinton (1851-1923) of Ipswich. In 1881, an 'artist fruit & landscape’, living at 14 Waterloo Road, Ipswich with his 29-year-old wife Ellen and their children, Ada Ellen born 1874, George William 1875, Eva Spencer 1876 and Arthur John 1880, their 16-month-old daughter, Kate Sophia died at 16 Woodhouse Street in November 1882. An artist being particularly famous for his still-life and his ability to paint grapes, and a member of Ipswich Fine Art Club 1885-1897 and exhibited from 14 Waterloo Road, Ipswich in 1883, three works 'Stone Lodge Lane', 'To Beach Farm' and 'Stone Lodge Lane from the Fields' and was frequent exhibitor, his oils 'Still Life, Fruit' and 'Bull's Head' were on display at their centenary exhibition in 1974 also showing at the Bury St Edmund's Fine Art Society in 1880 three still life pictures of fruit and in 1882 'Gainsborough's Lane' and in 1889 at the Woodbridge Art Exhibition at the Assembly Room, Bull Hotel, Woodbridge he had several oils on show. He also exhibited one painting at the Royal Academy also showing at the Suffolk Street Galleries, the Dudley Gallery and the Royal Society of British Artists 1885-1898 from 46 Croft Street, Ipswich. Henry George Todd died at Croft Street, Ipswich on 30 June 1898, aged 51 and buried in Ipswich cemetery five days later. He signed his work 'H. G. Todd'.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from Croft Street, Ipswich
1888 936 Still Life

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Works by This Artist