Mather, George Marshall

Introduction:

Extremely few profiles by GEORGE MARSHALL MATHER (1800-1887) are recorded. Primarily a portrait miniaturist and drawing master, his name appears at various addresses in Edinburgh directories between 1824 and 1857, after which he relocated with his family to Inverness, where he spent the last 30 years of his life. Assumed to be of Scots origin, he was in fact the son of a Newcastle on Tyne "shipowner".

Listed exclusively in directories a Miniature Painter and sometime Drawing Master, with no known newspaper advertisements offering profile work, it's impossible to gauge over what period he painted silhouettes. However, it appears they were very much a sideline, given how few are recorded.

Painting on card, bust-sized and a full-length profile are recorded. The full-length silhouette illustrated in McKechnie is a well-detailed, signed study of Lord Cockburn (1779-1854) and his dog, painted against a landscape. Bust-sized compositions though, lack the finesse of the Cockburn portrait.

Very recently, 3 bust-sized profiles have come to light. All 3, housed in papier mâché frames, show similar bustline terminations. Two are painted with sepia bodycolour, one is painted with a black base. The bronze highlighting of all 3 is typical of the period ca. 1830-1840.

The first is a sepia-base portrait of a young man, painted ca. 1830. The following 2, a husband with black-base and wife with sepia-base, are signed on the reverse "G.M.MATHER-Miniature Painter-72, Princes St., Edin. 1832". The couple are not without interest, as indicated by unusual contemporary paper labels naming them, which are glued beneath each portrait.

"Captn. Carleton" was William Carleton RN. (1789-1874) and "Rosamund Carleton" née Orde (1812-1887) was the daughter of a Lieutenant General. Married in Northumberland in 1832, the year the profiles were painted, both were involoved in salacious divorce proceedings in 1839. This probably explains why somebody (perhaps Mather?) applied their then newsworthy names to the profiles in likely expectation of a transitory demand for mementoes of the case.

It appears Mather could also turn his hand to engraving. A print ca. 1823 of a costumed actor from Edinburgh's Theatre Royal "engraved in stone..." by him, is in the collection of the NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND.

Recently sourced records also show that Mather was the author of "The Elements of Drawing Containing the First Principles of Light and Shade Colouring and Perspective", published in London, Edinburgh and Dublin in 1830.

He was also sufficiently moved by the Muse to have published "An Ode Written On The Auspicious Birth Of The Prince Of Wales..." in 1841. Curiously, contemporary miniaturist and profilist George Bruce (ca. 1775-1847), stirred by Royal proximity also penned verses when Victoria and Albert visited Edinburgh in 1842.

Why Mather and family removed from Edinburgh to Inverness sometime between 1858 and 1861, isn't known. Though citywide competition would have been keen, he never made, like other artists, a transition to photography. Given the steep decline of the market for portrait miniatures and silhouettes, it's unlikely he could have found a consistent income in Inverness.

Regarding Mather's personal history, in June 1833 at St. Cuthberts, Edinburgh, he married Belfast-born Sophia Elizabeth Fellows (1811-1882), daughter of Thomas Bourdon Fellows, a naval lieutenant who fought in 2 engagements during the Napoleonic wars. Four sons and five daughters were born in the city between 1834-1852. Their first-born, Ashley Bourdon Mather, a daughter, died from scarlet fever within a year. However, all remaining offspring survived to adulthood.

Though Mather's death certificate records him born to Isabella Lowes and Thomas Mather "shipowner" in Newcastle on Tyne, no evidence of his birth has come to light. Married in June 1802 in Newcastle, only one child,Thomas Lowes Mather (1803-1868), is registered born to them in the city.

As Thomas Lowes Mather is recorded a grocer and tea dealer in London in the 1820s, it's probable his and George Marshall Mather's shipowning father was Thomas Mather "Grocer, Tea Dealer and Italian and French Warehouseman" of 9 Dean Street, who appeared in the NEWCASTLE DIRECTORY of 1801. Also in the directory was George Marshall Mather's likely uncle John Marshall Mather (1778-1834), an ironmonger, hardwareman and stove grate manufacturer. The directory locates him at 14 Dean Street, five doors from his tea dealing brother, Thomas.

George Marshall Mather's given age on his death registration is 71 years, while 2 Inverness Census returns record his birth year as 1816. As his first Edinburgh directory entry dates from 1824, this birth year is clearly incorrect.

Dying of "senile decay" at "7 pm" on the 16th of December 1887 at 40 Huntley Street, Inverness, the death certificate gives his age as 67! In fact, he was a man in his late 80s.

Revised 3 December 2022 (Brian Wellings)