Lightfoot, Mary, Miss

Introduction:

Working between September 1786 and December 1787, Miss Lightfoot's career was brief but eventful. Like Mrs.Mary Lightfoot, her mother, MISS MARY LIGHTFOOT (1770-1856) painted bust-size works on plaster housed in pressed brass frames. On her one printed trade label, she is described as "M. Lightfoot", while her mother uses the honorific "Mrs. Lightfoot" on her 2 known trade labels.

Miss Lightfoot's newspaper advertisements also offered works on paper and ivory. No work on ivory has ever been recorded. However a likeness of a female painted on paper with a broken trade label was sold at Bonhams on the 4th of March 2003. The work was housed in a papier mâché frame.

It is generally accepted Miss Lightfoot's skills were a little inferior to her mother's. Arguably unfairly, McKechnie describes their works as "coarse". Both however appear competent profilists, though admittedly neither mastered a high degree of delicacy in painting embellishments outside the main body of their profiles.

McKechnie tentatively suggested either Mrs.Lightfoot or her daughter appeared from 1790 in Liverpool directories, and in later entries as a "Victualler". This assumption is an error. Dying unmarried aged 84 in 1837, "Mary Lightfoot - Victualler" was the daughter of Eleanor and Bernard Lightfoot, brewer, ironmonger and overseer of Liverpool's St. Nicholas Parish.

In fact, extensive research in 2022 discovered the only mother and daughter combination to fit the timeframe was Miss Mary Lightfoot, the eldest daughter and 3rd of 9 children born between 1768 and 1784 to Mrs Mary Lightfoot, née Lightbound (1745-1814) and Thomas Lightfoot (1742-1818), a Liverpool-based Master Mariner.

Miss Lightfoot's artistic skills may well have improved, had it not been for a controversy between herself and the already highly successful profilist John Miers (1758-1821) which spilled into print on the front pages of 2 editions of the CALEDONIAN MERCURY in October 1786.

Pursuing his career, from June 1785 to January 1786, Miers boarded at Mrs. Lightfoot's lodgings in Castle Street, Liverpool. It's certain Mrs. Lightfoot and daughter acquired several of Miers' works, perhaps occasionally in lieu of bed and board. It's likely they marked his financial success; they certainly observed his working methods, and it's probable Miers also mentioned his future travel plans. It's also certain Miers received a considerable shock when, on his arrival in Edinburgh in October 1786, he found the 16-year-old Miss Lightfoot operating as a profilist, displaying in several shops examples of HIS and her works under HER own name.

In the CALEDONIAN MERCURY of the 18th of September, she had intimated that she would be in Edinburgh "in a few weeks from Glasgow". On October 7th in the same newspaper, Miers was "...sorry to observe...that a certain competitor has exhibited profiles of his as her own...". On the 14th, she was defiant "...after being well-received in Glasgow, so mean an insinuation could arise from envy only". Doubtless Miers' ire was roused further, as a lengthy advertisement placed on the 18th, stated "...he had lodged at Mrs.Lighfoot's, Castle Street, near 8 months..." where Miss Lightfoot had "...clandestinely picked up his art...and advertised herself in the very words Mr.Miers had used in Liverpool...". He then effectively put her out of business by visiting every shop where she'd displayed her work, placing his alongside for comparison.

It's possible that Mrs. Lightfoot and daughter turned to what must have appeared to them as the profitable business of profile taking, as from recent research,  the Lightfoot lodging house was likely demolished in April 1786.

Liverpool as it was in the Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century - 1775-1800 described Castle Street, though narrow and difficult for traffic to negotiate, as one of the city's principal streets. In April 1786, 3 months after Miers' departure, all properties on the west side and part of the east side were demolished for street widening.

Miers makes no mention of Mrs. Lightfoot in his CALEDONIAN MERCURY advertisement, but it's conceivable she chaperoned her 16-year-old daughter to Scotland. Supporting the supposition is the fact Miss Lightfoot, as evidenced by her June 1799 marriage records, was illiterate. Her mother was not, and a degree of literacy was surely required to place newspaper advertisements and deal with business matters in general.

As far as known, "M. Lightfoot", always accepted by commentators as being Miss Lightfoot, only placed 2 further advertisements. Both appeared in the BATH CHRONICLE on the 1st of November and 13th of December 1787. However, it appears her mother may well have accompanied her to Bath. McKechnie illustrates a profile of the Rev. James Rouquet (1762-1837), who was married in Bath on 31st October, the day before "M. Lightfoot" placed her first advertisement in the press, Though the work lacks a trade label, McKechnie is certain the silhouette can be ascribed to "Mrs. Lightfoot" on account of an attributable shadow painted below the bustline and the rendering of the sitter's hair. Therefore it seems plausible mother and daughter may have painted profiles in tandem.

From the 1790s, directories show Lightfoot family abodes in Liverpool's Park Lane, which was known for its maritime connections. It's therefore unsurprising they resided there, given the fact Miss Lightfoot's father and 3 of her brothers became Ship's Masters, while the 4th traded as a sailmaker.

In June 1799, she married neighbour John Payne (1771-1841), a painter, plumber and glazier of Park Lane. Their sole offspring, a son, was baptised in March 1804 and predeceased her in January 1853. Aged 86, Mary was buried at St. Thomas's Liverpool, in April 1856.

Revised 26 September 2022 (Brian Wellings)