Finished for the day W E Millner 1890, recently acquired and now on display at the Gainsborough Heritage Centre.

William Edwards Millner was born in Gainsborough on the 4^th of May 1849, he took after his Father and became a very well-accomplished artist, there is not a lot of information about him and most of what is written on the internet and artist sites is often slightly wrong, as they sometimes spell his name as Milner, one L, not two and sometimes get his paintings mixed up with his Fathers paintings, but seeing as his Father was called William, his Grandfather and Gt Grandfather was also called William, it is not surprising.

We will start with William Edwards Millner`s Grandfather, William Millner, born in Gainsborough in 1796, he married Anne Edwards in 1816. Some research I have found said that he was a grocer, but by 1822  he had one part of a shop at No 11 Market Place and was living above it, he is listed as a Draper, William died in 1841 and is buried at the Gainsborough Parish Church graveyard. (his gravestone is still visible at the rear of the church, laid flat on the ground)

William and Anne had 8 children and one of them, namely William Millner, was born on the 14^th of March 1818, he married Frances Jane Edwards in 1847, (which is where some of their children get their middle name “Edwards” from). William initially went into the same drapery trade as his father in the Market Place shop After his Father Mr William Millner (1796 -1841) died, the following year, 1842, William went into partnership with a Mr Isaac Beech to form a drapers shop, simply called Millner & Beech. This lasted at No 11 Market Place until 1856 when it was sold to a Mr Peter Platts and the two parts of the shop were converted into one large drapery store called Waterloo House, this was the 1^st shop in Town to have a large plate glass windows covering the entire frontage of the shop, all other shops were fronted by smaller multiple windows.

Around 1845, now that their Father had died, they left from living above the Market Place shop, William, Frances and their family had a house built at the top of Spring Gardens next door to Belmont House, which was run by Mr Thomas Dyson as a School until it was demolished in 1893 for Marshalls Sons & Co expansion. This is where William Edwards Millner was born in 1849. By 1861 the Millner family had moved to No 6 Spital Terrace, what was previously Mr Thomas Brumby`s School and they would stay there until the last one of the Family, Henrietta Millner passed away in 1912. I don’t know at what date William started painting, but he gave up being a draper to become a professional artist and a teacher of painting. He must have been painting for some considerable time and have been up to a very good standard as he put some of his paintings in the Birmingham exhibition of modern artists in October 1844, he was noted in some art publications of the same year as being “ a young man who is becoming an artist of great promise and we trust his efforts will be crowned with success, his paintings are highly spoken of in the art world”.

His first London success was in 1845 when he exhibited two paintings at the British Institution, these were “The Woodcutter” and “Ravenswood and Lucy Ashton at the Mermaids Fountain”. His paintings were now getting very admired and respected by people in the Town. In 1847 the Gainsborough Art Union held a draw in which the prizes were 15 of William Millner`s oil paintings and 40 engravings, 100 members subscribed to 1 guinea each.

We don’t have a full list of his paintings but this list is of the ones we do know of.

1. Boys Fishing – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
2. Contention of Achilles and Agamemnon – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
3. Dead Game – 1849. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
4. Down in a Flowery Vale – 1869. Exhibited at the Royal Academy.
5. Dreams – 1869. Exhibited at Maas Gallery.
6. Dead Game. – 1850. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
7. Farewell to the Emigrants, – 1849. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
8. The Fisherman`s Wife. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
9. Gypsies Encamped. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
10. Girl at the Well, Sunset. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
11. Interior of a Country Inn. – 1847. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
12. Jack Ashore. – 1859. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
13. The Keepers House – 1846. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
14. The Keepers Stone. – 1846. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
15. Landscape & figure. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
16. The Letter from Jack of H.M.S. Agamemnon. – 1855. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
17. The Mask. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
18. The Old Parish Clerk, Cain Barnes. – 1845. Painted for Rev Colin Campbell.
19. An Old Woman Knitting. – 1847. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
20. An Old Rustic Reading A Newspaper & Smoking a Pipe. – 1849. Commissioned by Lord Boston after he bought An Old Woman Knitting Painting.
21. Ravenswood and Lucy Ashston at the Mermaids Fountain. – 1845. Exhibited at the British Institution.
22. Reflection. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
23. Scenes From Rob Roy. 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
24. The Stirrup Cup. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
25. A Sunset. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
26. The Trio. – 1846. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
27. The Turnip Lantern. – 1854. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
28. Watercress Gatherers. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
29. The Widow and the Fatherless. – 1848. Exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
30. The Winter of Life. – 1847. Gainsborough Art Union Draw.
31. The Woodcutter. – 1845. Exhibited at the British Institution.

The 1847 painting of An Old Woman Knitting was exhibited in London in 1849 and was purchased by Lord Boston which is why he commissioned William to paint a companion piece, which was of An Old Rustic Reading A Newspaper & Smoking a Pipe.

One painting that has been quite popular is that of “Cain Barnes, The Parish Clerk” sat at the table looking over the marriage banns with his Daughter Polly brushing his gown which she holds in one hand, the painting was purchased by the Rev Colin Campbell who was Curate of the Parish Church. A Lithograph was made of this painting in 1846 by local bookseller J.F.W. Bowden. After the painting “Down in a Flowery Vale” had been exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1869 (which was Millner`s only academy success) he had a chromo-lithograph made of this.

As we mentioned before, William married Frances Jane Edwards in 1847 and they had 8 children, the first Son was William Edwards Millner, born in 1849, who became possibly a greater artist than his Father and we will cover him next, then came the first Daughter Kate, born 1850, then Fredrick Yarday, born 1852, then Arthur Yarday, born 1853, ( I haven’t found what the name “Yarday” connection is to the family) then Frances Jane, born 1855, next was Margaret Annie, born 1857, then Gertrude Ester, born 1859 and the last child was Charles, born 1879. Between all of these children, some didn’t marry and the rest didn’t have any children of their own, so the Millner name unfortunately sadly died out. William died in 1870 and is buried in the Parish Church graveyard, unfortunately, his stone is no longer visible and his wife Frances Jane Millner who died in 1907 is buried at the General Cemetery, she has a gravestone next to her Son and his Wife, William Edwards Millner and Henrietta.

We Finally come to William Edwards Millner, he was born on the 4^th of May 1849, there is hardly recorded information about his early life, not that he was very old when he died, aged 46 on the 30^th of October 1895, he is buried up at the General Cemetery in Gainsborough with his wife. William married Henrietta Riddle in 1880, they didn’t have any children and she died in 1912.

William Edwards Millner must have been taught by his Father, he lived and painted in the Town all his life, he painted quite a few local scenes but specialised in animal studies, especially horses and he was also fond of classical subjects. Again, there is possibly no chance of compiling a list of all his paintings, but these are the ones we know about. (some strangely often had different titles/names)

Paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Hope Deferred – 1876

The Little Pet – 1877

Spring – 1878

Age Before Honour – 1880

Labourers – 1885

Unyoking – 1887

Whites Wood – 1887

Homewards – 1889

On the Line – 1889

A Visit to the Paddock – 1889

Beautiful in Death – 1891

Ploughing in Lincolnshire – 1896 (hung posthumously)

Paintings in the Tate Gallery, London.

A Wayside Gossip. – 1872. Purchased by the Tate Gallery in 1969.

Paintings in the Old Hall, Gainsborough.

Thonock Hall Gates – 1875

Two Young Ladies in a Drawing Room – 1879

Will He Come – 1881

Young Woman with a Soldier – 1882

Homeward Bound – 1889

A Dog and a Cat – undated

Two Horses with Parish Church – 1895

Three Horses in a Farmyard – undated

Two Dogs – undated

Coffee Tavern Sale, Market Street, Gainsborough.1895.

A sale of the paintings of the late Mr William Edwards Millner was held in the Coffee Tavern in December 1895, 35 works of art were shown including his last and greatest painting “The Christian Martyr”. 20 of the pictures were sold mainly to local residents, the others were withdrawn.

Title         –      Buyer

Grey Pony – J.R.Fox

Pony & Donkey – Mr Walton

Sketch in Westmorland – Thos Wheeldon

Turnip Field – Mr Mason

Gathering Mangolds – Mr Major

A Christmas Present – Mr Wray

Two Horses Grazing, Parish Church – J.R.Fox

Three Horses – T.Dixon

Taffy – J.Dixon

Horses & Figures in Turnip Field – R.W.Forrest

Leading Timber (framed) – C.Thompson

Leading Timber (unframed) – Mr Wray

Horses & Tumbril – Mr Wray

Mare & Foal – P. Gamble

Herodias – William Rose

Greek Girls – unsold

Dog & Cat – unsold

Tigers Head – unsold

Under the Shelter of a Tree – unsold

Halcyon Days – unsold

2 Lions – unsold

Tigers – unsold

Thoroughbred Horses – unsold

Rest – J.Dixon

Grey Mare & Foal – Mr Talbot

Preparing for Market – unsold

Horses at Rest – unsold

Solitude – unsold

Girls in a Wood – W.Saunders

Classical Picture – Neave Taylor

Greek Ladies – unsold

Harvest Field – W.H.Hanson

Lions – unsold

Ploughing – unsold

A Christian Martyr – unsold

Sadly, William Edwards Millner died after only a few days of being taken ill.

The Gainsborough News reported his death. 1/11/1895.

It is with great regret we have to record the death of William Millner, the artist, which occurred on Wednesday night 30^th  of October from a very severe cold, he has long been known as an artist of considerable repute, his forte being animal paintings and was fond of classical subjects. Many of his works graced the walls of the Royal Academy and most of his friends possess souvenirs of his brush. His studies of the lion from the zoological gardens and travelling menageries were painstaking and forcible and his last and perhaps his best picture is a striking portrayal of A Christian Martyr in the Zenith of Rome`s glory. Mr Millner was only taken ill last Saturday and his death is the subject of great regret to his many friends and acquaintances in Gainsborough and throughout Lincolnshire. The funeral takes place tomorrow.

Gainsborough News. 8/11/1895.

The remains of the late Mr William Edwards Millner, the well-known painter whose death took place last week, were interred in the General Cemetery on Saturday. The deceased gentleman was highly respected and a large number of tradesmen and gentlemen of the Town were at his graveside, among those present were Miss J. Millner and Miss M. Millner. His wife Henrietta passed away in 1912 and is buried with him. This was the last line of the Millner family in the Town.

With his paintings now increasing in value, there are many of his works hidden away, possibly hiding in attics or somewhere, an exhibition was held in the Old Hall in Gainsborough to see what was about of his work, but not many came to light compared with the number of paintings known to be in circulation. The Tate Gallery purchased “ A Wayside Gossip” in 1969 from the auction house Christie’s and made a plea for any more of his work. There are many in private collections but possibly a lot are forgotten and hidden away in the Town, lets see what comes to light.