Brian Hatton 1887-1916

                    John Hatton
                        |
                        |
                 Charles Hatton      Robert Keay J.P ==== Amelia Milne Marr
                        |                      |
                        |            __________|_________________________
                        |            |               |                   |
                  Alfred Hatton === Amelia          Ada=== Dr Vevers   Helen== Arthur Croom-Johnson
                            |                                |
                ____________|__________________              |_________
                |               |             |                        |
           Brian b.1887 Ailsa Marr b.1893 Marjorie b.1895            Geoffrey b.1890
             

Brian's mother, Amelia Keay's, side hailed from Ayrshire in Scotland. One of her relatives, Robert Milne, built the first Blackfriar's Bridge across the Thames near St Paul's. This way constructed between 1760-9 and was the third bridge in London. This was praised by the Italian sculptor, Canova, painted by William Marlow, and was commemorated by a 47p stamp.

Amelia and Alfred married in the Lady Chapel of Hereford Cathedral when she was 20 and he 28. Some members of the Hatton family boating up the river Wye in a paddle steamer. This photograph was taken at Belmont on July 2nd 1894. In those days, craft of any size could be hired for a pull up towards Belmont from the pleasure boat station, situated in the quay between the Castle Green and the college garden. Alternatively, one could embark on a lengthened expedition through the varied scenery along the lower course of the Wye.

When Brian was in his eighth year, the Hattons moved to Mount Craig, Broomy Hill. This had been built about 25 years before, it was stone-fronted complete with stables, a coach house and a sizeable garden secluded by a high wall, yielding vegetables, fruit and flowers at every time of the year. The Keay grandparents dwelt

Brian's artistic nature first manifested itself when he drew three birds at the age of two. His family took him to Hereford Cattle Market where he sketched the beasts. The animals that he most liked to do were horses. Indeed there was a close relationship between man and horse in the Hattons. Brian's great-uncle was a founder member of Hereford race course. next door at The Highlands. Next door to them resided Auntie Helen and husband Arthur. Another Auntie, Ada, lived at Highmore House,66 Grandstand Road, Westfields.

The relationship between man and horse runs through his work.

At the age of eight and a half he exhibited at the Royal Drawing Society where he won a bronze medal, and shortly after he was given a prize by the Arts School Association.

Brian and his sisters, Ailsa and Marjorie photographed playing in the river Wye near to the then-new Victoria Bridge (built 1897) in Hereford. Unfortunately the young Herefordian suffered from Asthma. The family doctor, Mr Edgar Morris, recommened he be sent to school in Swansea where he considered the sea are would be beneficial.

In Wales, he enjoyed model making, horse riding, and most especially drawing. Before long he was given lessons at the Swansea School of Art, attending two hours in tbe morning twice weekly. Here his teachers found 'It is astonishing that a boy of ten should be so quick to grasp the technique of simplification of drawing and design, to draw with as few lines as possible and to get things in a curve'.

In 1898 Brian won a Gold Star from the Royal Drawing Society, which was presented annually by Princess Louise, herself a sculptress of some considerable ability. For example she created that of Queen Victoria outside Kensington Palace.

Brian was praised by the artist G.F.Watts, the relief of whose head adorns the facade of the V & A, and who fashioned the memorial in Postman's Park in honour of certain individuals who had sacrificed their lives in attempting to save others.

Brian's prizes consisted of a book on art, another an illustrated fairy story, and and a picture called 'The brook by the way'.

On May 18th 1899 Brian and his mother arrived at Paddington station, from whence they took a taxi to their hotel at Norfolk street, just off the Strand. The following morning Colonel Collins met them, and took them to the Tate, the Tower, but most exciting for in the courtyard. Brian the Royal Mews to see the horses where Brian rode on a pony . That December he was to send Christmas cards to Princess Louise of his own making.

Brian and his mother were invited to visit G.F. Watts and his wife at their house, Limmerslease in Compton, down near Guildford. Watts expressed great interest in seeing some of Brian's sketches again. Watts opined however that Brian should undergo a conventional education for the next few years without any specific training in art.

Several days after returning to Hereford the Hattons received a letter from the Watts saying that their visit had been a great pleasure, stating that it was a joy to find him so unspoilt, just the natural unself-conscious boy.
'Great men differ greatly but.....they are all of them of a childlike simplicity'

Indeed at school Brian had few prejudices and was ready to praise other people's ability, whilst being always modest about his own work.

When Brian went back to school in Swansea, his first letter to his mother was full of nostalgia for Hereford.
'O how different from Hereford, dear little Hereford'
Although Brian's life at Swansea was happy and full, he remained closely linked to his family and Hereford. Also Brain was vexed when his homecoming was delayed by his mother's being unwell, though Brian was frequently poorly himself. Mrs Hatton went to Scotland to convalesce, but Brian was met at Mount Craig by his father and Mabel. Also there was a new puppy, Jess

Brian's landlady at Swansea, Mrs Lancaster felt that all of Brian's activiities were secondary to his drawing. However, Brian felt great joy in riding horses across the sands by Swansea Bay. There was a great 'oneness' between horse and the young rider.

Soon Brian did some live drawing. He was very impressed by the way that the model managed to stay still for so long, and it is indeed a very demanding task that few people are capable of.

Brian received six prizes including the Silver Star offered by the Clothworkers' Company when he sent a portfolio to the Royal Drawing Society, his works were shown to King Edward VII, then to the Paris Salon.

The young Herefordian's pen and ink drawings, Mazeppa, an illustration for the poem by Lord Byron drawn at home in Hereford and Tam'o Shanter won Lord Leighton's prize, and the memory drawing from nature which bore the title Carting Sand achieved the G.F.Watts award. These works induced wide-spread interest and admiration.

However later the London School Board questioned the authenticity of Brian's memory drawing, which brought his friends rallying to his defence.

It was in April 1902 that Brian was commissioned for the very first time to do a drawing. The client was a lady by the name of Miss Chappell, a friend of Collins. The order was for a sketch for a the title page of a song, A Very Dark Knight by Paul Rubens. Brian produced a pen and ink and sepia wash drawing of a mounted knight. He was paid two guineas.

Also at this time one of the Watts' neighbours wanted to purchase one of Brian's drawings that she had seen.

The Keay grandparents dwelt Before Brian came back to Hereford for Christmas he discussed with his mother the family's festive theatricals. The members of the family were to dress up as something. Brian was supposed to be an elf, though he opined that he was already grown too big to make a good one.

At that time Brian was mainly taken up with portraiture. One of his sitters was Mrs Lancaster who sported a large, turban-like hat which was quite different from her usual titfers with 'half a bird on the side of them'.

By this time Brian's Auntie Ada had moved to Lancaster Gate in London. Brian stayed with her, and they visited the Wallace Collection in Manchester Square. Brian's letter home, dated April 24th 1902, tells how he found it '...simply A.1 topping....Ever so many suits of armour men and horses....'

Brian also went to spend some time with Collins's family down in Hayling Island, where he 'did pen and ink of farm buildings and cart etc out of window. Did small water colour of distant farm, meadows and trees'.
They also went newt fishing and on bike rides, though Curly rode a tricyle as he couldn't ride a bike.

Brian travelled down to Guildford once again as guest of G.F.Watts. Brian felt at ease with other artists, regardless of any age difference. Watts went over anatomy, technique and the fundamentals for making pictures. Watts used a human skeleton to illustrate a comparison of the bone structure between people and horses.

Watts opined that Brian drew with skill, but it was crucial for him to be au fait with structures. He therefore suggested that Brian should put aside picture making for the time being and concentrate on minute details.

Brian told Brian not to fret if his work appeated laboured, as in time he would be able to work as freely as he wished, reminding him that even Rembrandt's output was like that at first.

Watts praised Brian to Mrs Hatton, hailing her son as a born artist,with faith in his genius and ultimate success. Watts disapproved of Brian selling his art, probably because he believed that it would raise a far higher price once Brian had eventually made it. Curly described the young Herefordian as 'our English Millet'.

In February 1903, jounalist Philip Gibbs, literary Editor of the Daily Mail requested a photo of Brian and a couple of his pictures, and some information about Brian's 'career' as he wanted to do an article about him for a new periodical, Men and Women.

That summer Brian went up to London to visit the Watts, and admired Watts' new statue 'Physical Energy' which now stands in Hyde Park. However the London visit played on Brian's nerves, especially with such hot weather, and the teenager was pleased to come back to Hereford.

Just following his 16th birthday when the family were down in Porthcawl for a wedding Brian fell in, and the diagnosis was typhoid fever and peritonitis, and it was several months before he regained his former vigour.

After his recovery, Brian started painting for the first time in oils, but did not take to this new medium with the greatest of ease.
On the whole I don't find oils as easy as water colour. I don't seem to be able to mix the colours so well to what I want to ....it's rather rot being beaten by a few dirty tubes of paint, but they are very unmanageable.

The editor of a magazine call Art, Mr Spielmann, a friend of Watts, wanted to see some of Brian's work as he hoped to write an article about him. He was most impressed with the sense of sincerity, opining, 'What strikes me most about them is the earnest purpose and care and the complete absence of any attempt to be 'clever'". However, Watts intervened and persuaded Spielmann not to publish the review, as he feared that this would go too much to the boy's head and spoil the quiet way that he hoped Brian would mature and develop.

Other artists that Brian met included Russell Dowson, Norman Garstin, S.Sherwood Hunter, and a Mr Girdleston. The Lancasters prolonged their stay so that Brian could spend more time with the artists. His drawings were sent from Hereford. The artists reaction was very encouraging, most of all they praised his horses, then his seas. However they felt that his landscapes had great room for improvement , opining that his colouring was not very strong yet.

Brian enjoyed his walks in the countryside and rabbiting with the mongrel rough haired whippet that he purchased for ten shillings, as well as shooting on the Glebe. From the surrounding hills he could see the water tower at Broomy Hill. Brian went on a bike ride with Bannister over the Black Mountians via Longtown to Pandy then back over on the Abergavenny road.

From the breezy, gorse-clad common at Ewyas Harold, there are lovely views of villages nestling in the secluded vale, encompassed by noble ranges of hills; conspicuous among them the lonely double peak of the Skyrrid or Holy Mountain, and the flat-topped Sugarloaf near 'Abergenny:' Craig and Garway hills raise their broad shoulders above the woods of Kentchurch Park, and to the westward the abrupt heights of Hatterel Hill bound the vista with many a mile of wild, fern-clad moorland, over-topping the grass-grown slopes of Mynydd Ferddin, where the Welsh tradition has it that Merlin lies buried. T H Timmins called it a 'wide prospect, overarched by a breezy sky flecking the distant landscape with ever-changing effects, affords a store of unallowed pleasure to carry away in our memory...'

Brian witnessed some Baptist Revivalists being baptised to the Dore brook.
'...they walked into the stream and ducked the first woman who had a tremendous black eye. Several other women followed and one old man. The poor beggars gasped, and could hardly walk up the bank with their clothes all clinging to them, while one of the baptisers wiped the water out of their eyes with his smudgy hand, and the Baptists yelled "hallelujah"....'
Brians sense of the ridiculous tickled him pink when there were some guests at the Vicarage where he was lodging.
.....'There was also a man from Hereford who recited his pathetic pieces were killingly funny as he couldn't pronounce, to say nothing of his appearance'.

All this time had been designing a triptych. His family had gathered together some carved panels of oak wood which they had fitted to the walls of the sitting-room in Mount Craig. Brian drew the triptych, Mrs Hatton worked it with gesso, and then Brian coloured it in.

Brian's worry about whether he had the ability to be accepted by Oxford made him feel despondent. Brian failed his entrance exam in July, but passed the September resit, and got ready to begin at Trinity College in October. However at attack of bronchitis delayed his start until November.

Brian went to the Taylorian Gallery to study the great masters, such as Raphael, Michael Angelo, Turner, Durer, Rossetti, and Frans Hals.

A certain Mr Thompson who wrote a book on anatomy wanted to help Brian in that field. There was a branch of the Slade School in Oxford. Here Brian did live drawing twice a week. He appreciated the value of live models and how it takes a special person with great patience, stoicism and stamina to perform that task.

Thompsom being impressed by Brian's pen and ink drawings of gypsies, sought the young Herefordian's help in drawing plates for a book on the anatomy of the horse planned for some time in the future.

Although Brian enjoyed the social life at Oxford, attending breakfast parties, he also wished for times of solitude, out walking along the canal, the Broad Meadow and beside the river.
'Rows of willows and poplars in the distance and the towers of Oxford on the horizon, it strikes me that this is where Tennyson go this idea for the Lady of Shalot'

Brain was invited down to stay with the Watts at Limmerslease. Here he was introduced to a fellow undergraduate of Christchurch called Kurt Hahn, whom Mrs Watts described as a 'heaven-born art critic and lover of art'. Brian's observations were that
'He is German and very nice but frightfully aesthetic or whatever you call it. Goes into Rhapsodies over Burne Jones life by his wife - scarcely healthy in his mind I should say so. He's too young to talk such drivel about Burne-Jones and ..'

Kurt went on to found Gordonstoun where Prince Charles was a pupil and the Outward Bound Schools.

Horseman crossing a ford. Courtesy of the British Museum.

Horseman, courtesy of the British Museum.

Shepherd, courtesy of the British Museum.

Peasant woman, courtesy of the British Museum.

Brian Attends Art Lectures