James Clark Hitchcock is not a name with which artists and academics are familiar. So what do we know about him?

James was born in August 1849 in Bradford upon Avon to Edward and Elizabeth, the youngest of four children. The 1861 Census shows him, aged 12, as a shoemaker living with his widowed mother in Bradford upon Avon. At age 21, he was a shoemaker lodging at Silver Street, Northampton. From here, he married his first wife, Elizabeth Letts, before moving to London with their first daughter, Julia.

It is possible the move was to be near his older sister, Charlotte, who was a servant to Edward Whymper, the famous Alpine mountaineer, before marrying Thomas Adshead, a tailor, and raising her own family. The 1891 Census shows James in Northampton, now with 2 daughters and living in Hood Street. He was still and remained for the rest of his working life, a hand-sewn bootmaker working from home on a piecework basis.

At some point, possibly, during the 1880s he started painting, a hobby he pursued until his eyesight started to decline. It is not clear how or why he started painting. The story within the family was that he was self-taught, but it is possible he attended evening classes, popular in Victorian times. It was previously thought that his output was largely retained within the family.

placeholder image — Harlestone Firs 1890

However, recently, newspaper reports came to light from 1889/1890 reporting annual exhibitions at the Grammar School of the Northampton and Northamptonshire Art Society. In 1889, the Northampton Daily Reporter said that “Mr James Hitchcocks (sic) had the largest picture in the exhibition, a clever view of Gipsy Lane at the time Gipsies did encamp near the stream which then flowed directly across the road. In the gloom of a red sunset the gipsy party are gathered around their fire forming a picture both pleasing and historic. The stile of Seeby’s footpath is in the middle distance”. This picture is in the ownership of a family member.

At the 1990 exhibition, the Reporter said “Mr James Hitchcock has a picture of the “Back Stream, Kingsthorpe” (64), which is very good. “Lamport Fishpond” (108), “In the Dales, Maidwell” (109), and “Clifford Hill” (110) are three pieces of local scenery remarkably well done. And we are not surprised to find some of Mr Hitchcock’s pictures marked “sold”.

James’s wife, Elizabeth, died in 1895 and he married Isabella Palmer in 1897, with whom he had 6 children. He now moved to Moore Street where he lived out his days until dying in April 1932. My mother, Isabelle, was the youngest surviving daughter. It was she who told the stories of her father being self-taught, and struggling to buy materials for his art. This last point is borne out by 2 of his surviving paintings being on the back of soap cartons. As his sight failed my mother told of him taking up the violin and, when he became too weak to stand, teaching himself to play the concertina. He was, I believe, a truly remarkable man, and Northampton’s forgotten artist.

If anyone recognises the works of James, or owns one, I would be grateful if they would contact me:

Patrick Whitehead (grandson of James) email: [email protected].