In 2014 I wrote a post called The Emigrants and Immigrants to New Zealand (click here).
‘The Emigrants’ is the name of a painting William Allsworth painted in 1844 and it is in the collection of Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of New Zealand. I won’t say more about it as you can read more in my earlier post.
William Allsworth was my great-great-grandfather, born in 1811 in Chatham, Kent [baptised on 21 April 1811] and died on 10 January 1864 in Kent.[1] His parents were Ralph and Mary Allsworth.
He painted mainly portraits, but he wasn’t a well known painter. He exhibited ten paintings at the Royal Academy from 1836 to 1856, although he wasn’t a member; and he exhibited two at the British Institute in 1854 (called “The first lesson”) and 1856 (called “The schoolboy after Christmas ready for school”).
His first exhibited work at the Royal Academy in 1836 was called “An Artist” and I suspect this was the self-portrait I will talk about below. At the time he was living at 69 Pratt Street Camden Town, London. He would have been aged about 25 when he exhibited “The artist” in 1836.
(I think this could be the face of a 25 year old…)
In 1838 he exhibited “An artist” (the same work?) At that time, he was living at 107 Park Street.
In 1844 he exhibited “Hopgrounds at Kenfield” – this sounds like a landscape. This is the same year he painted “The Emigrants” for the Mackay/Mackie family, who emigrated to New Zealand.
In 1848 he exhibited “General Auchmuty”; in 1850 “Portrait of a Lady” and “C A Patey Esq”; in 1851 “The School Boy at Christmas”; in 1853 “G Slous, Esq” – his address during this time was 23 Gloucester Street.
In 1854 he exhibited “Edward Auchmuty Glover, esq” and in 1856 “Jane, daughter of Sir J M Tylden”. He was living at 8 St James Terrace, Camden Town for these two.[2]
A few more details, from research I did many years ago, Sotheby’s sold one of his works on 2 June 1965: a portrait of an army officer – three-quarter length standing with landscape; signed and dated 1854.[3] In another book, it said a painting by W Allsworth sold for £350 at Bonham’s in 1975: a portrait of four sisters and their brother, signed and dated 1849.[4] (It would be interesting if these were his own children, but according to my information, his fourth daughter wasn’t born until 1854).
In 2011 Bonham’s had a “Portrait of Edith Schroder” (1853) and “Portrait of Richard and William Tylden” (1858) for sale. And in my earlier post I included information on two paintings of his that sold at auction in 2016, and later appeared in a contemporary art exhibition.
He married Georgiana Turner on 5 July 1835 at St Pancras Old Church, London. Their first child, a boy, died young. Their next, a daughter named Georgiana, was born in 1839 and then the child I’m descended from: a son William Henry Allsworth was born on 4 June 1842 at 99 Park Street, Camden Town, London. They had three more daughters and another son who also died young.
The artist’s son William Henry Allsworth (1842-1908)
Many years ago, a friend of mine, who was a researcher, went to quite a lot of trouble to try to find the exact house that my great-grandfather, William Allsworth, was born in, in 1842 at 99 Park Street, Camden Town, London. This street had been renamed (now called Parkway) and changed – she found an old map at the local library to try to pin down which house it was. She also photographed the St Pancras Old Church where his parents had married in 1835.
This is her photo of St Pancras Old Church and the house at 99 Park Street she thought was approximately where the O C Book Shop is or the one next to it, in the other photo.
In 1862 the artist’s only son, William Allsworth, emigrated to New Zealand, arriving on the ship Triton on 6 July 1862. He married Emily May Morris on 25 June 1873 in the Wesleyan Chapel, Masterton, and he died on 14 January 1908 in Masterton, New Zealand. They had seven children, including my grandmother Minnie. He spent a few decades working at the large sheep station in the Wairarapa called Brancepeth, and the related station of Te Parae. I wrote more about this time in my earlier post.
This photo was taken by a cousin of my mother’s (now deceased) around 1990, which she said was “gran Allsworth’s old home at Brancepeth”.
The self portrait and portrait of his wife were sent to the artist’s son in New Zealand around 1900: “The paintings were packed in England and freighted to New Zealand by Levin & Co Ltd. The packing and freight cost 100 pounds and arrived at Makora Road [now spelled Makoura Rd, Masterton, NZ] where there was considerable excitement in the family on their arrival, an event Marion [born 1890] remembered many years later”.
Their house was at 105 Makoura Road and this is where the paintings hung for many years. This photo is of the house (taken around 1990), and looking at Google Street View the house still looks much the same.
Many of my mother’s family lived in this part of Masterton. The red dot is 105 Makoura Rd. The Jones family farmhouse (Minnie Allsworth married Norman Jones) was at the corner of Kuripuni Street and Makoura Road; and my grandparents, Minnie and Norman, lived at the house on the corner of Colombo Road and Kuripuni Street and one of my mother’s sisters was not far away. Jones Place is named after the family.[5]
In 1987 a cousin of my mother’s, Terry Cairns, who had a regular column in the local newspaper, wrote about the Allsworth family Christmas’s spent at Makoura Road (then it was spelled Makora). Shortly after, a photo was reproduced in the paper of one of these occasions – as it isn’t of good quality, I have reproduced the photos I have of the same occasions. My mother is no doubt in these photos; I think she is the short girl in the back row in the 7th photo. ‘Gran Allsworth’ (formerly Emily Morris) is sitting in the middle. She died in 1942.[6] View as a slideshow: The first three are the article and two details from it; the next shows William Allsworth (born 1842) and three of his sisters, Emily (born 1844), Marion (born 1854) and Louisa (born 1847) who remained in England; the next image (no. 5) shows William at an older age with his wife Emily; the 6th photo is Emily Allsworth (‘Gran’) with her four daughters, and the last two photos are Christmas occasions at Makoura Road, c. 1931.
The paintings went to the youngest child, Grace Pearl (known as Pearl), and were later hung at her son’s house (Ken Miller) at 39 Cornwall Street, Masterton. His daughter then had them for many years, but recently gave them to me. I have since had some restoration work done on them. See my later post for photos.
I think the portrait of his wife (Georgiana Allsworth, nee Turner) is lovely. I especially like her face and some details such as her hands and the flowers next to her dress. This was framed in Wellington, New Zealand. His self-portrait isn’t framed, and maybe because of that, is more damaged. I don’t know if they came to New Zealand framed or unframed.
Earlier this year an Englishman, Mike Gunnill, who is writing an article about William Allsworth for ‘Bygone Kent’ got in touch, which prompted the search for the paintings. He expects the article to be published next year.
[1] He died in West Kent Hospital, Maidstone, Kent on 10 January 1864. He was aged 53 (which confirms he was born about 1811) and is listed on his death certificate as “artist (portrait painter)”. His wife presumably was not present at the death as she is not mentioned on the certificate. It seems likely he was in or near Maidstone on a painting commission at the time he suffered a brain hemorrhage.
[2] From Algernon Graves’s A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904 (online).
[3] A Dictionary of British Military Painters by Arnold Wilson, 1972
[4] From Auction Prices of nineteenth century artists, 1970-1980, ed R Hislop, 1982
[5] These are two of the posts I have written on the Jones family: https://viviennemorrell.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/jones-family-of-masterton/ and https://viviennemorrell.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/jones-family-of-masterton-journeys/
[6] I have written two relevant posts about the Morris’s: https://viviennemorrell.wordpress.com/2023/05/18/george-morris-father-and-son-shoemakers/ and https://viviennemorrell.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/family-history-and-genetics/
Vivienne Morrell 