Jeffreson, William

WILLIAM JEFFRESON is best known today for bronze-tinted profiles, the finest of which stand close comparison to those of the master of the technique, John Field (1772-1848). Jeffreson's printed trade labels advertised a "...modern style of executing likenesses by machine...", indicating he used it to secure outlines for the black, or much rarer Venetian Red bases he would then highlight. Despite their quality, his work is rare and occasionally misattributed.

 

Four printed trade labels record him as "Mr. Jeffreson from London". Assuming his age was correctly given in the 1841 Census, he was born ca. 1780, though no confirmation was found. The cause may be that 'Jeffreson' is too easily transcribed as 'Jefferson', the perfect case in point being Jeffreson's own 1841 Census record, as the enumerator did just that.

 

In March 1811, Jeffreson married 16-year-old London-born Charlotte Lloyd (1794-1884) in Tiverton, Devon. A daughter, born in Barnstaple, Devon in October, her burial 14 months later in Stockport, Cheshire, and the birth of a son in Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1813, suggested an itinerant career. 2022 research discovered Mr. and Mrs. Jeffreson were in fact both provincial actors.

 

Initially evidenced as actors by a Sheffield playbill of December 1813, it's worth noting that though Mrs. Jeffreson gave birth to 8 offspring between 1811-1829, newspaper advertisements prove her confinements were no obstacle to her acting career. Between 1822 and 1827, she was recorded at Portsmouth, Winchester and Southampton theatres. The object of at least 9 benefits and always favourably reviewed, she was still 'treading the boards' into the early 1840s.

 

William Jeffreson's history is more opaque. Information on his trade labels show visits to Canterbury, Kent, Lymington, Hampshire, and Bognor and Midhurst, Sussex. The Midhurst profile is dated 1819 and the style of all his sitters' apparel suggests they were painted approximately a year or two either side of that date.

 

However, several questions regarding Jeffreson's career before 1830 remain unresolved. Why, given the undoubted quality of most of his likenesses, are so few works recorded? Were the towns he visited on the "circuit" of the acting company with which the Jeffresons were associated? Since his name does not appear on any of Mrs. Jeffreson's theatre advertisements from the 1820s, did he strike out on his own as an itinerant profilist? Unfortunately no records have come to light to supply answers.

 

Curious too, is the fact that though seemingly settled in Southampton from ca. 1821, as evidenced by his offspring's baptisms, his first known advertisement only appeared in October 1830, when Jeffreson was 50 years old.

 

In the HAMPSHIRE CHRONICLE of the 30th of October 1830, Jeffreson offers "LESSONS in DRAWING...[and]...Profiles in colours, black, bronze, miniatures...[and]...profiles accurately copied". In 1835, he advertises as a "Drawing Master and Stationer" of 117 High Street, Southampton, which was the town's commercial hub. In July 1837, in the HAMPSHIRE ADVERTISER, Jeffreson promotes his Drawing Academy with specimens of various styles which could be "viewed or lent to copy". In August 1841, the same newspaper advertises his "ARTIST'S REPOSITORY...with every requisite for the Fine Arts".

 

As his son, Wiliam Jnr. (1813-1855) is listed a Professor of Drawing, Printer and Stationer in later directories, it's possible he placed the 1841 advertisement. However, mention is made in it of patrons' "...liberal support...for the last 9 years" and in 1832, William Jnr. would have only been 19 years old. More plausibly, Jeffreson Snr. established the business which then evolved with increasing input from his namesake son.

 

Jeffreson Jnr. appears to have inherited artistic talent from his profilist father. The HAMPSHIRE ADVERTISER mentions in April 1854 "....the well-known artist and publisher..." selling a lithograph of his own work of a steamship's maiden voyage as "...exquisitely lifelike and additional proof of the great talent of the artist". Jeffreson Jnr's "great talent" would die with him the following year.

 

William Jeffreson Snr., sometime profilist and actor, was buried at Holyrood Church, High Street Southampton, on the 20th of October 1842, aged 61 years. Charlotte, his redoubtable wife, would die at the home of her 2 daughters in Dover, Kent, in 1884, aged 91.

 

NOTE - It's probable Jeffreson had some connection with John Hallam (ca. 1791-1836). Recent research discovered Hallam was also a scenery painter and actor. In the HAMPSHIRE TELEGRAPH of the 18th of May 1818, he is recorded painting scenery at the Portsmouth and Portsea Theatre, a venue on the Jeffresons' acting circuit. As Hallam was known to have been painting profiles by 1817, it's possible he encouraged his fellow thespian to take up the art as Jeffreson's profiles are first recorded ca.1818.

 

Revised 29 November 2022 (Brian Wellings)