T0m simpson

1847-1929

We are delighted to be able to offer a number of works from a sketch book by Tom Simpson . They depict scenes dear to the artist such as Flower Sellers in Covent Garden, beach scenes in Southwold and Ladies and Children from circa 1900. They give a wonderful insight into Victorian life and the story of that period. The sketch book comes direct from the collector John Russell Taylor, historian and writer who died in 2025.

The artist Thomas Simpson was born at Great Russell Street, St Paul Covent Garden, London on 14 January 1847, fourth of the ten children of Thomas Bartlett Simpson (1806-22 June 1872), a hotelier, and his wife Jane née Meek (1814-), who married at Strand, London on 24 November 1841. In 1881, Tom, as he was known, was a 34-year-old figure painter, living at West House, Clapham Common, Streatham, London with his 66-year-old widowed mother Jane, a house proprietor, and five sister siblings.

In 1901, a 54-year-old artist in watercolour, living at Layer Breton Lodge, Kelvedon, Essex with his 36-year-old wife Mary and their 7-year-old daughter Marjorie, who was born at Battersea, London. Tom Simpson was a member of the Ipswich art club 1901-1915 and exhibited from Layer Breton from 1901 - 1916 and MCR of his work depicted the Essex/Sufolk coastal towns , particularly Southwold.

Tom Simpson was a painter who was one of a small group exhibiting in London in the early 1890’s, influenced by the Impressionist movement in Paris. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art under Alphonse Legros and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1887 and showed his work frequently at the Royal Society of British Artists, the New English Art Club, the London Salon, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Dudley Gallery Art Society and the Walker's Gallery. In 1926, a large exhibition of his work was held at Walker's Gallery in New Bond Street, London. This comprised of a series of views of Rome, numerous views in Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and Kew and various studies from nature.

His work, largely in watercolours, showed scenes in and around Clapham and Wandsworth Common, Kent and Suffolk. He visited Walberswick from 1890-93 and was probably well acquainted with fellow visitors, Philip Wilson Steer and Frederick Brown with whom he exhibited at the NEAC at this time. He also was a member of the IAC, 1905-15 and is recorded as living in Essex. The Bartley Drey Gallery in London held a large exhibition of his work in 1997.