Related People

• Joseph Wright of Derby (Artist)

  Display Date: British, 1734 - 1797

  Nationality: British

  Biography: Artist.

• William Bemrose (Association)

  Display Date: British, 1831 - 1908

  Nationality: British

  Biography: Printer; writer; collector Born at Derby on 30 December 1831, William Bemrose was the second son in a family of three sons and one daughter of William Bemrose of Derby, founder in 1827 of the printing and publishing firm of William Bemrose & Sons of Derby and London. His mother was Elizabeth Ride of Lichfield. His elder brother, Henry Howe Bemrose (1827-1912), was conservative member of parliament for Derby from 1895 to 1900 and was knighted in 1897. On their father’s retirement in 1857, Bemrose and his brother Henry assumed management of the family printing business, which grew to include an office in London, with branch offices in Leeds and Manchester. Although actively involved in the printing business, Bemrose pursued many other interests. He became a director of the Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Works, leading him to publish three works on china: 'The Pottery and Porcelain of Derbyshire' (1870), in collaboration with A. Wallis; 'Bow, Chelsea and Derby Porcelain' (1898) and 'Longton Hall Porcelain' (1906). Bemrose chiefly devoted his leisure to travel and to a study of many forms of art, on which he was also a successful author. From an early age, he had practised wood-carving, fret-cutting, and modelling in clay, and later compiled useful manuals concerning them for the instruction of amateurs which were well illustrated and circulated widely. Among these was a 'Manual of Wood-carving' (1862), followed by 'Fret-cutting and Perforated Carving ' (Derby, 1868); 'Buhl Work and Marquetry' (1872); 'Paper Rosette Work and how to Make it' (1873) ; 'Instructions in Fret-cutting with Designs' (1875); and 'Mosaicon: or Paper Mosaic and how to Make it' (1875). Bemrose was also an amateur painter in oils and water-colours and collected pictures, china, and articles of 'vertu', especially items of Egyptian art, which he acquired on his travels. In 1858, Bemrose married the great-granddaughter of Joseph Wright of Derby, Margaret Romana Simpson (1837 - 1901), by whom he had five sons and one daughter. The connection granted Bemrose access to many works by Wright and fired a keen interest in the artist and his legacy. As chairman of the Derby Art Gallery Committee, he was instrumental in establishing a permanent collection of the artist’s work and organised the first retrospective exhibition devoted to Wright in 1883. In 1885 he published the first biography of the artist, titled 'The Life and Work of Joseph Wright, A.R.A., commonly called Wright of Derby.' In 1903, two years after death of his wife Margaret, Bemrose married Lilian, daughter of William John Gumming, M.R.C.S., of Matlock, and widow of Alderman William Hobson of Derby, proprietor of the 'Derbyshire Advertiser.' Bemrose, who was elected a F.S.A. in 1905, also played an active part in wider affairs of Derby. He was a member of the Derbyshire Archaeological Society, and vice-president of the Derby Sketching Club. A member of the Derby school board from 1879, he was its chairman from 1886 to 1902, and was a founder and for many years chairman of the Railway Servants' Orphanage. A pioneer of the volunteer movement, he retired as lieutenant in the 1st Derby volunteers in 1874 after seventeen years' service. He died at Bridlington, while on holiday, on 6 August 1908, and was buried at Derby. His second wife survived him. Bemrose’s varied collection was dispersed among his children who eventually donated items to Derby Museums, including many works on paper by Joseph Wright of Derby. (Much of this information comes from the DNB, 1912 Supplement (volume 1), entry on William Bemrose, by S. E. Fryer. Accessed at Wikisource.org, 2021).