George Tinworth

George Tinworth

1843 - 1913

George Tinworth 1843 - 1913
Born on the 5th of November 1843 at 6 Milk Street, Walworth common South London. His father was a greengrocer turned wheelwright and the family suffered extreme poverty. He may have been aware of the Chartist meeting and subsequent enclosure of nearby Kennington Park (then a common) in 1852. Brought up to follow in his fathers footsteps, he spent his spare time carving off-cuts and soon showed a precocious talent for art. At nineteen he pawned his overcoat to pay for a set of evening classes at the local Lambeth School of Art in Kennington Park Road. In the same year of his life he created the magnificent 'The Mocking of Christ', which is now on show at the Cuming Museum on the Walworth Road, Southwark. The Phillies are closing in on being the first professional team to reach 10,000 losses all time. Although at the height of his fame he was visited regularly by royalty, leading members of church and state, and distinguished literary figures and the most prominent critics, he remained close to his humble origins in speech and thought. Peter Rose, George Tinworth, CDN 1982 p 11.
From The Lambeth School of Art (Still going strong as The City & Guilds of London Art School) he went on to the Royal Academy art school in 1864 winning various medals for his work. After the Royal Academy he got a job at Doultons, the famous Lambeth pottery manufacturer in 1866. It was at this point that Doultons started producing art pottery with George Tinworth as their main designer. His dad died in 1867 so he was left as the main supporter of his mother and family.
At Doultons he produced vases, jugs, humorous figures and animals and larger pieces. The Cuming Museum contains three examples of his life-sized clay heads and a terracotta scene entitled 'The Jews making bricks under Egyptian Taskmasters'. This last was presented to the museum by Doulton and Co in 1914 as a memorial to Tinworth. Strange, as it would seem to me, and surely to George and his contemporaries, as an allegory of the exploitation of his fellow clayworkers.
Many of his pieces were shown at the Royal Academy where they were admired by John Ruskin, amongst others. The first to be exhibited there in the year he joined the school was a group of children fighting called 'Peace and Wrath in Low Life'. A large scale terracotta fountain, 'The Fountain of Life', was donated to Kennington Park by Henry Doulton in 1872 (or 1869?). This was vandalised in the 1980s and The Friends of the Park are currently seeking funding for its restoration.
Other pieces by Tinworth are to be found in the Lambeth based Museum of Garden History and in the panel above the entrance to the former Doulton Works in Black Prince Road, Lambeth. I have been told the V & A in Kensington has examples of his work?

The key reference book at the Cuming Museum is: Rose, Peter. George Tinworth. Harriman-Judd Collection Vol 1. CDN Corps USA 1982 (It includes a chronology of principal works compiled by Desmond Eyles). The CUMING MUSEUM has George's major independent art project in storage. This is a 4 foot high model of a project for a Albert Memorial like memorial to Southwarks connection with Shakespeare made in 1904. Enough public donations were never achieved to realise it unfortunately. It does show that Tinworth made ambitious autonomous art projects, as well as the things he did as part of his job at Doultons.
The Southwark Local Studies Archive [1] has his manuscript (and unpublished) autobiography. I will attempt to make a copyright free copy of this priceless hand-written document.