Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are attributing this oil painting on board to the so-called William Broome of Ramsgate. We are attributing it because it is unsigned, although on the piece of old backing paper that came with the painting, it is entitled in coperplate writi9ng, 'Making for a wreck off Whitby' and signed E. Broom. The painting depicts, presumably, the Whitby lifeboat making for a foundering sailing vessel. It is a 'pulling and sailing' lifeboat in use in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. William Broome painted other oils mentioning Whitby in their titles.

As William Broome tended to paint famous incidents, as in Ramsgate, and this is a scene in Whitby, it is possible that this is the rescue of the crew of the Whitby brig 'Visitor', whose story we give below. The wrecked ship does appear to be a brig, as far as we can tell.

On January 19th, 1881, the lifeboat men of Whitby took part in one of the most outstanding launches in lifeboat history. It had been snowing and blowing, a south-easterly gale for days, piling the snow into deep snowdrifts. That morning a telegram was received by the harbour master in Whitby saying that a ship had sunk off Robin Hoods Bay and the crew had taken to the ships boat but were unable to land because of the heavy seas.

The wind had changed to a north-easterly making the launching of the lifeboat there impossible, so they decided to take the lifeboat overland to Robin Hoods Bay, six miles away, to launch it. The road to Robin Hoods Bay was very narrow and rising in some places to 500 feet above sea level. The snow was seven feet deep in places. Sixty Whitby men were given shovels and they began to clear the snow from the road, a team of horses was hitched to the lifeboat carriage and the team set off for Robin Hoods Bay, pulling the lifeboat Robert Whitworth.

More men joined in the snow clearing along the way and additional horses were supplied from farms along the way, until there were over 200 men involved in clearing the road to save the crew of the stricken ship.

It took two hours to clear the snow from the road and get the lifeboat to Robin Hoods Bay.

There was little clearance between the houses when they got to the bottom of the Bay, but once there the crew who had worked as hard as anyone to clear the snow and were tired, manned the lifeboat straight away and set off to rescue the ships crew.

For over an hour they struggled to get to the small boat when six of their oars and the steering oar broke. They had to return to shore without reaching the small boat.

While more oars were obtained the call went out from the coxswain Henry Freeman to double bank the oars, so with new oars and a crew of 18 on board the lifeboat Robert Whitworth set off again to save the crew.

After struggling for an hour and a half they reached the small boat and rescued the six sailors on board, they were from the Whitby Brig Visitor. They had to be carried ashore as some of the men were unconscious. Some of the lifeboat men needed medical attention as well one man was so exhausted he had to stay in the Bay for some time until he recovered enough to make the journey home.

The rest of the men returned to their homes, going back to the Bay for the lifeboat when the weather improved, and sailing it home.

William Broome, we say so called William Broome of Ramsgate, because other than the possibility that he visited Ramsgate and other coastal ports near to London, there was no artist named William Broome living in Ramsgate, during the period of his life. He was born in Marylebone London in 1839, as proven by birth records, not 1838 as always listed. He also died in 1894, not 1892, likewise proven by death records. Census records show he listed himself as a Marine artist, Artist in marines. He may well have visited Ramsgate, Portsmouth and other ports on the south coast, as well as Whitby.

William Broome was the son of an Accountant also called William Broome and, in the 1851 Census, he was living with his parents and two brother Thomas Abraham and George Johnson, in Dorset Street, St. Marylebone. George Johnson Broome, born in 1842, became a painter of still life oil paintings and is listed as exhbiiting between 1867 and 1872. His artistic career was short lived, as he died in 1874, 7 years after his marriage to Janet MacLean in 1867.

An interesting thing to note is that a painting entitled The Rescue and dated 1881, was signed G. J. Broome, a further pointer to the fact that William, fo some reason known only to himself, apparently signed his paintings variously as C.A.B., J. Broome, H. Broome, WB, A.T. Broom (see cutting enclosed), J. Broom and, as in this case, E. Broom.

In the 1861 Census, both William and George are listed as Clerks, so their paintings careers must have begun after this date. William married Georgina Beatrice Nixey, who was born in Liverpool and they had 5 children, 4 girls and a boy Angelo. They lived variously in Seymour Street, St. Pancras (1871), 1, Windsor Terrace in Holborn (1881) and by 1891, they were residing at 27 Gayhurst Road, Hackney with their three eldest children. William died in 1894, a year after Georgina.

The main reason we believe that he is known as William Broome of Ramsgate, is because he painted a famous lifeboat rescue in two oils, which were widely circulated as oleographs. The event depicted was the Ramsgate lifeboat Bradford rescuing some of the crew of the Indian Chief and the paintings were entitled 'Bradford to the Rescue' and 'Return from the Rescue'.

He and his brother George are both listed the The Dictionary of Victorian Painters by Christopher Wood. There are two of his paintings in the National Collection which can be viewed at ArtUK.org. His auction results can be viewed at the usual sites, bearing in mind that artprice list his work under William Broome of Ramsgate and William Broome 20th Century, which he definitely wasn't.

The painting is framed in a 2 1/2" dull gilt swept frame and gilt slip, which suits it very well. It will be supplied with new brass hangers, new brass picture wire and will be ready to hang.

Image size: 11" x 9" - 28cm x 22.85cm

Medium: Oils on prepared artists' board.

Condition: Very good. There is no craquelure or paint loss and the surface is clean. The frame is in very good condition.