Field, Henry William

Introduction:

Born in 1810, HENRY WILLIAM FIELD was the 4th and last child of famed London profilist John Field (1772-1848) and Mary née Harris (1774-1869). Painting profiles in tandem with his father, he would become a skilled silhouettist in his own right.

Working commercially from the late 1820s into the early 1840s, black and bronze highlighted works on plaster are known, though more bronzed works on ivory for jewellery settings are recorded. The latter, at best, stand close comparison to his father's meticulous work. McKechnie also recorded profiles from the early 1840s by H.W.Field painted on card.

Broadly speaking, H.W.Field's bustline terminations are comparable to his father's. A few works, exclusively on ivory, are signed 'H. Field'. McKechnie noted that works signed 'Field Strand' with the 't' of 'Strand' crossed, are generally by W.H. Field and that. unlike his father, he never signed his surname with a lower case 'f'.

Showing early talent, H.W. Field exhibited 7 works between the ages of 12 and 17 at the Royal Academy as an 'Honorary Member', indicating he was never R.A. schooled.

Undoubtedly Field's 'school' from ca. 1820 was John Miers' (1758-1821) studio and picture frame manufactory at 111 Strand, where Field's father had been sole profilist since 1796.Though Miers had long ceased painting profiles to manage the phenomenally successful concern, his son William Miers (1793-1863) was employed crafting picture frames, jewellery settings and engraving seals. H. W. Field would in turn master all the skills practised at the address.

When John Miers died in June 1821, his will allowed an option for a business partnership between his son William and John Field. McKechnie suggests the relationship was strained and a joint (William) Miers and (John) Field trade label appeared, perhaps grudgingly on William Miers' part, only in 1823. By 1829, the partnership was dissolved.

1830 saw the Fields working independently at 11 Strand. The trade label used at this address offered miniature frames, jewellery and seal engravings by H.W. Field and profiles by John Field, though in fact both, evidenced from dated works, painted profiles at this address.

By 1832 they'd relocated to 2 Strand, where John Field died in 1848. After his death, directories record H.W. Field as an ormolu miniature frame maker, seal engraver and jeweller until 1875, when 2 Strand is demolished for road improvements. He is last recorded in the 1878-1880 Post Office directories as a "jeweller" working at 88 Newman Street, Westminster. The 1881 Census records him just south of Hampton Court Palace in East Molesey, Surrey. Perhaps in semi-retirement aged 71 his occupation is given as "bookseller, stationer".

H.W. Field was twice wed, with 2 sons from his first marriage and another from his second. In September 1841 he married Eliza Leech (1803-1853), daughter of licenced victualler George Leech (1779-1838). He painted them both in lockets on ivory: "Mr.Leech" is in the V&A Museum's collection, while "Miss Leech", once owned by McKechnie, is illustrated in her book. In a work dated 1837, again on ivory and illustrated in McKechnie, Field painted "Robert Lees"(1807-1837), a hatter who wed Eliza Leech's sister Eleanor (1802-1839) in 1831. A witness to this marriage was H.W. Field's sister, Eliza Jane, indicating a lengthy association between the families. Both Leech sisters died of consumption.

H.W. Field's first son from this marriage, Henry John Field (1843-1909) became in turn a jeweller, a Bournemouth-based photographer, boarding house keeper and grocer. A photograph by him of his father is illustrated in McKechnie.

H.W. Field's wife Eliza died at 2 Strand in April 1853 after, according to the Field family bible "...a protracted illness borne with exemplary patience...". Four years later, in March 1857, he married Mary Ann Geary (1823-after 1901), daughter of a drawing master. Their only child, Charles Alfred Field, born in 1858, was recorded in the 1891 Census as "paralysed from childhood", whether by accident or disease, is unknown.

Henry William Field died on the 18th of June 1882 aged 72, at the 'Stationer's Shop' on Walton Road, in East Molesey, Surrey.

A Correction - Commentators have long claimed H.W. Field became an "Assay Master" at the Royal Mint. This is an error. The Henry William Field who worked at the Mint was born in Hammersmith in March 1803 and died at Brighton in June 1888. The 1851 Census located him in Kensington as "Assayer H.M.G.Mint".

Revised 10 January 2023 (Brian Wellings)