Hove in the Past: William Essex (1784-1869)

copyright © D. Sharp
The former home of William Essex from 1864-1869 - 13 Western Road (Reds) on the corner of Waterloo Street
(photographed in June 2020)

William Essex and his brother Alfred Essex both trained at the workshop of Charles Muss (1779-1824) learning the art of enamelling and miniature painting. Although they excelled in the traditional style of seventeenth century miniature painting, they also undertook larger enamels measuring up to 16-in by 18-in, following the style that Henry Bone spearheaded in the mid nineteenth century. Sometimes for the larger items, the brothers would work together.

William Essex was noted for his use of pigments especially in the delicate use of unusual shades to bring a person’s face to life – he was also praised for the excellent accuracy of his underlying drawing. William Essex exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1818 until his retirement in 1864, the majority being enamels, with some works being painted on ivory, and other pieces executed in oils.

William Essex produced his own work, but he was also well known for copying from a famous portrait and transforming the image into a miniature marvel. These images were very popular among his clientele, and made excellent gifts for friends, or became souvenirs of a favourite pet. His miniatures were also to be found in decorative pieces such as jewellery, snuff boxes and cravat-pins. The following list gives some idea of his output:

Miniature of Byron (1849) after a portrait by Thomas Phillips (Victoria & Albert Museum)

Miniature of Sir Walter Scott (1852) after a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Miniature of Thomas Moore (1853) after a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Cravat-pin with a portrait of a pug dog (British Museum)

Cravat-pin with a portrait of a great dane (British Museum)

Scarf-pin of young Queen Victoria wearing her crown (Victoria & Albert Museum)

Bracelet bearing a portrait (Victoria & Albert Museum)

copyright © J.Middleton
From 1864 William Essex lived at 13 Western Road, Hove, above his daughter's dressmakers shop
(the white faced building in the centre of the road).

His work was recognised in the highest circles, and he was appointed miniature painter to Princess Augusta, then followed the same post to Queen Victoria in 1839 and the Prince Consort in 1841. This would have been gratifying news to his erstwhile mentor Charles Muss who had himself been appointed miniature painter to William IV.

It is pleasant to note that William Essex imparted his knowledge and skills to the younger generation in his pupils John William Bailey (1831-1914) and William Bishop Ford (1832-1922). As a result of his success Essex was able to live at a smart address, 3 Osnaburgh Street, Regent’s Park, London.

Meanwhile, William’s brother Alfred Essex took the step of setting down in writing his expertise in enamel painting, publishing a paper in the London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine in June 1837. Later on, he decided to emigrate to South Africa, and was still there when he died in 1871, his daughter Harriet remaining in that country.

Nothing much is known about the parents of William and Alfred Essex. Perhaps the only information available is an inscription on the back of a miniature revealing that at some stage in his childhood young William was not living in the family home. The names of William Catt (1777-1853) and Hannah Catt (1777-1823) are given as having acted in loco parentis.

It seems very likely that this William Catt was the same William Catt who ran the Bishopstone Tide Mills in Sussex, although at present there is no absolute proof. The Tide Mills are famous in local annals because it was from there that in 1795 army mutineers stole 300 sacks of flour from the sloop Lucy, with the unfortunate ring-leaders being executed subsequently, two shot at Goldstone Bottom, and four hanged at Horsham gaol.

copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum
Portrait enamel of Empress Eugenie of France,
painted by William Essex, dated 1857,
after Winterhalter.

It is interesting to note that William Catt was such an expert on tide-mills that he used to travel to France to advise King Louis Philippe on how to construct one in that country. However, the revolution of 1848 forced Louis Philippe off the throne and onto a ship bound for Newhaven where he was met by none other than William Catt. The ex-king was put up at the Bridge Hotel, and waited upon by Catt’s daughter. It is of great interest that William Essex painted a miniature of Louis Philippe in England, which could also perhaps point to a connection with this William Catt.

William Catt lived to a ripe old age, which meant his son was known as William Catt, junior, even up to the day of his retirement from business life in 1843. This younger William Catt was involved in the Vallance & Catt Brewery, which became so profitable that a young scion of the Vallance family later became a large landowner in Hove, occupying Hove Manor and then Brooker Hall. The link between the two families may be connected to the fact that in 1790 James Vallance married Ann Catt. The firm of Vallance & Catt, besides the brewery, owned a string of pubs, and diversified into becoming coal merchants and general dealers. Both the Vallances and Catts owned ship shares in some twenty vessels registered at Shoreham Harbour, and this also included William Catt, senior. By 1874 the rent from the pubs brought in £3,285 a year.

copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum
Portrait enamel depicting Lord Byron
painted by William Essex,
after Thomas Phillips.

William Essex and his wife Martha had a large family of one son and six daughters. William B. Essex followed in his father’s footsteps by painting enamels too, and although he exhibited his work at the Royal Academy, as well as with the Royal Society of Artists, he was by no means considered to be the equal of his father. It was on the 19 January 1852 that he died in Birmingham.

The eldest child was called Martha, after her mother, which was the custom at the time, and she was baptised in 1814. Hannah Essex was baptised in 1832, and like her father, painted enamel miniatures, which were also exhibited at the Royal Academy; her married surname was Bird. Another sister, Mary, found a husband too, and she became Mrs Price.

However, it seems that two of the Essex daughters were quite happy to retain their unmarried status, and indeed they became successful business women, and no doubt excelled with the needle. Emily and Caroline Essex ran their dressmaker/milliner business at 13 Western Road, Hove, on the corner of Waterloo Street. Not only did they manage to stay afloat from the late 1850s until the 1880s, but by 1881 they were also in such a satisfactory position that they could employ no less than twelve assistants. Obviously they were capable women, and it was to their establishment at 13 Western Road that William chose to live when he retired from his painting career in 1864. The hospitable sisters were also pleased to have their other siblings come to stay at times; they were Martha and Ellen, while Mary (Essex) Price and her husband lived there too for a short period.

Whether William Essex was aware of it or not, in moving to 13 Western Road, he was joining quite an artistic little enclave, both in terms of history as well as when Essex was there. It is a remarkable coincidence that at no great distance once lived Andrew Plimer (1763-1837), another famous miniaturist; Plimer occupied a house in Western Cottages, off Western Road, Brighton, (now called Sillwood Place) and was buried at Hove. Andrew Plimer also had a brother, Nathaniel Plimer, who became a well-known miniaturist too.

copyright © R. Jeeves
Early 1900s photograph of Western Road, number 13 the former home of William Essex is last building in this shopping terrace next to Waterloo Street, the artist John Charles Dollman lived at number 7.

Closer at hand was John Charles Dollman (1851-1934) at 7 Western Road where his father ran a library and bookseller’s business. Young Dollman was already displaying his talents in 1867 and became a very popular artist. Occupying rooms upstairs at Dollman’s Library lived the marine artist W. J. Leatham. Not far away at 59 Brunswick Road in the 1860s lived John Henderson Scott, a landscape painter, whose grandfather Edmund Scott (1758-1815) had been portrait engraver to the Prince of Wales in 1811. The Scott family produced at least seven artists over four generations. One of them was Amy Scott (1798-1871) whose still-life paintings were said to have inspired the Pre-Raphaelites – unfortunately, being female, at the time her work was not regarded as being on the same level as her male contemporaries.

William Essex died on 29 December 1869 at 13 Western Road, and he was buried in the churchyard of St Andrew’s Old Church, Hove, on 4 January 1870, the service being conducted by Revd Walter Kelly who had also presided at Andrew Plimer’s funeral.

copyright © East Sussex Record Office
The entry in Burial Register of St Andrew's Old Church Hove for William Essex - 4 January 1870.

Unhappily, today the grave of William Essex lies beneath Tesco’s tarmac. Catherine Essex thus became a widow, she being his second wife.

In the 1970s the vast majority of the large north side of St Andrew’s churchyard was destroyed and obliterated to make way for a Tesco Supermarket's car-park, all the graves were coverd with tarmac. As William Essex was buried in the early 1870s, his grave would have been on the north side of the church and therefore under the supermarket's car-park. It is probable that William Essex's grave stone would have been in a grand style, he was in receipt of a small pension from Queen Victoria and his daughters were successful business women in Hove.

On 20 May 2009 Bonham’s sold a miniature of the Prince Regent by William Essex. It was still in its original highly decorated frame, and was in excellent condition. The piece was expected to be sold for around £3,000, but in the event fetched £6,000.

Sources

Argus (14/5/09 / 25/5/09)
East Sussex Record Office

Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Mr R. Jeeves

McCarthy, Edna and ‘Mac’ Sussex River: Journeys along the Banks of the Ouse (ND)
Victoria and Albert Museum

Additional Essex Family research and page layout by D. Sharp

27 June 2020

William Essex (1784-1869)