Fidler, John Henry

Introduction:

Only one, out of the ordinary, work by JOHN HENRY FIDLER is known. John Woodiwiss, author of BRITISH SILHOUETTES (1965), recorded a description of it in one of his notebooks.

The silhouette, with long sloping bustline, was cut, "coarsely" embellished with bronze highlights, mounted on white card and bordered with an embossed design. The face of the card mount, like a greeting card, screened the profile and was shaped like a door with a concave side. A further surround was built up by an oblong border of tiny leaves cut from brown paper.

Woodiwiss recorded the work was stencilled "J. FIDLER, PROFILIST". McKechnie suggested what she called "this extravaganza" to have been produced ca.1850, which is borne out by recent research.

John Henry Fidler was born in 1827 to Halifax coach painter Thomas Fidler and his wife Mary. The 1841 Census locates John Fidler in Halifax, aged 14. His occupation is "Card Design Apprentice". Seven years later, at his marriage in May 1848, his given occupation is "Designer", presumably of decorative "greeting cards". Undoubtedly this explains the unusual presentation of the silhouette described above.

However, no advertisements/handbills have come to light to plot the length and extent of his profilist career. As likenesses housed on decorative cards are more ephemeral than framed and glazed silhouettes, it's likely few, if any other works by Fidler survive.

Fidler's career as a "Designer" was over by 1851, as that year's census and the following census a decade later, record his occupation as Manager in a Halifax worsted manufactory.