Crowhurst, George Angelo (Brian Wellings 2021)

Recent research has revealed new, previously unrecorded, aspects of the Brighton profilist’s personal history.

 

PARENTS

James Crowhurst b. Arlington, Sussex 1749; d. Rotherfield, Sussex 1826.

Martha Henty b. Chiddingly, Sussex 1754; d. Hartfield, Sussex 1835.

 

Land Tax records of 1798 show that James farmed land owned by a Thos. Haines in Framfield, Sussex, so it appears possible he was a tenant farmer. The couple had 12 children – 6 daughters and 6 sons. All bar one survived to adulthood.

The 1841 Census has two of GC’s brothers farming in Framfield, while another was an agricultural labourer in the same village.

 

GEORGE CROWHURST

Bapt. 16.03.95 Framfield, Sussex; d. 26.01.39 3 York Place, Brighton.

 

George was the tenth child born to James and Martha. It appears that neither George nor his siblings were christened with middle names. ‘Angelo’ rarely appears on GC’s signed works and not at all on his printed trade labels or directory entries, suggesting he adopted the name. Certainly he had a fondness for it as his last child was baptized Raphael Angelo.

 

When GC departed Framfield is unknown but, by spring 1822, aged 27, he’s in the Sussex county town of Lewes.

 

MARRIAGE

07.05.22 GC married Hannah Gurr Morris (1790-1860) at All Saints, Lewes. Five years older than GC, Hannah also came from Framfield and was one of nine children. Her middle name was her mother’s maiden name. Her own was bestowed on two of her sons.

Though newspaper archives have so far revealed no record, it’s possible that before his marriage GC lived in Lewes, as one of his sisters married in the same church in 1820. 

 

By early 1823, GC is recorded in Brighton, where he would remain for the rest of his life.

 

 

OFFSPRING

GC and Hannah had 6 children. 3 would die in infancy. All were baptised at St.Nicholas, Brighton.

 

• Hannah: bapt. 22.02.23; marr. 16.01.61; bur. 02.01.65 at St. Nicholas. No issue

• Morris: bapt. 25.06.25; bur. 14.12.26 at St. Nicholas

• Maria Louisa (Lucy): bapt. 28.02.28; bur. 27.04.29 at St.Nicholas

• George: bapt. 06.11.29; bur. 29.07.30, St. Nicholas

• Anthony Morris: bapt. 03.12.30; marr. 07.02.52; d. 18.02.79 at Camberwell Lunatic Asylum. Had issue

• Raphael Angelo: bapt. 13.02.33; marr. 1893; bur. 02.05.99 at Brighton. No issue

 

 

CAREER

The St. Nicholas registers give a useful timeline for GC’s changing occupations and abodes:

 

• February 1823, at his first child’s christening, he’s recorded as a Writing Master of High Street, Brighton.

• February 1828-November 1829, GC’s abode is Devonshire Street, a thoroughfare then only partly built up. He’s still listed as a Writing Master, though an advertisement of January 1836 mentions him working in Brighton as an artist since 1828. High Street/Devonshire Street are just east of the Steine, the fashionable promenade for visitors, opposite the king’s pavilion and the location where GC worked as a profilist until his death.

• December 1830, at the baptism of his 5th child, GC records his occupation as artist, and by February 1833, when his last offspring is christened, his occupation is listed as profilist and his abode London Road. Almost certainly, this was 3 York Place, where he died.

 

 

WORK ADDRESSES

At the southern end of London Road, York Place was a 5-minute stroll to GC’s known workplaces at No. 11 and No. 40, Old Steine. By 1828, GC had stepped into the vacuum left by the well-known profilist George Atkinson, who for reasons unknown, had departed the town. In turn, both men used No. 40 Old Steine next to the recently built Royal York Hotel as a work address, a prime position to attract custom.

 

Virtually all works bear No. 40 – either handwritten or printed – as his work address, while as far as is known, just a single profile bears ,No. 11 Old Steine.

 

1830s directories record No. 11 as a private residence.  It appears GC rented a room/studio there as a stopgap, due to fire damage at No. 40.

 

28/29 November 1835: The Brighton Patriot and The Atlas newspapers, among others, devote column inches to a blaze which broke out at 11pm Sunday 22nd November at No. 40. A kitchen beneath GC’s shop, used by a neighbouring confectioner, was the seat of the fire. A pair of fire engines sent to the incident were, according to The Brighton Patriot, under “unskilled management”. However, “augmented by a party of Coldstream Guards”, the blaze was extinguished after 4 hours.

 

GC removed his “cutting machine and other articles” storing them at the Royal York Hotel, but nearly all “drawings and profiles were consumed and all his windows smashed”.

 

The Coldstream Guards were garrisoned at Brighton between November 1835 and February 1836, and Mrs Nevill Jackson’s Dictionary of Silhouettes (1938) records the single sitter taken at No. 11 as Ensign M. J. Daniel of the Coldstreams. Perhaps it’s not too fanciful to imagine he was one of the fire party.

 

15th December 1835: The Brighton Patriot notes a subscription got up for GC, “a great sufferer in the late fire”.

 

7th January 1836: the same paper printed GC’s advertisement, thanking nobility/gentry for their patronage over the previous 8 years, thanking subscription contributors and proclaiming No. 40 reopened for business. Newspapers also stated the confectioner, a Mr Phillips, was insured so it’s probable that GC was recompensed.  The Electoral Register of 1837 still lists him – 2 years after the blaze – as a householder of London Road, so the conflagration does not seem to have been ruinous.

 

 

DEATH

The Brighton Gazette (7 February 1839) recorded GC’s death at 3 York Place on the 26 January 1839, aged 44. As yet, no will has been found, so it’s possible his demise was sudden. 

 

George ‘Angelo’ Crowhurst was buried at St. Nicholas on 2 February 1839.