If you could travel back in time to 23  March 1887, you would find the streets of Birmingham throbbing with excitement.  Massive crowds gathered to catch a glimpse of Queen Victoria, who visited the city to celebrate her Golden Jubilee.  As the diminutive monarch was driven along Colmore Row, she passed through the ‘Metalworkers’ Arch’, specially created with the participation of Nettlefolds Ltd.

Birmingham’s way of marking the Golden Jubilee

The official visit was not the only way in which Birmingham marked the Golden Jubilee.   In May 1887, an art folio was published, consisting of twelve mounted facsimiles of work by Birmingham artists.  The work was dedicated by special permission to the Queen, who graciously expressed her thanks to those who had contributed their drawings.  In 2025, Winterbourne acquired a copy of this folio as a donation.

The folio was prepared under the direction of Arthur T. Woodward, a former student at Birmingham School of Art who obtained his teaching certificate in 1885.  He emigrated to Australia in 1889, where he built up a successful teaching career, and in 1937 received the King’s Commemorative Medal for services to art in Australia.

Artists represented in the folio

In addition to Woodward, who was the youngest, the artists represented in the folio were Walter Langley, Edward Harper, William Wainwright, William Spittle, Harry Foster Newey, Joseph Finnemore, Frederick Brueton, William Mills and Frederick William Davis.  They all had fascinating careers in various branches of art, and we have researched their lives to understand how they were connected to each other, and why they might have been chosen to contribute their work to this project.

One common factor linking all the artists was the Birmingham School of Art, which had its origins in the Birmingham Government School of Design founded in 1843 and became the UK’s first Municipal School of Art in 1885.  Winterbourne has a strong connection with the School of Art, as Margaret Nettlefold attended classes there during the 1890s.  Arthur Woodward received prizes for his work there in 1883 and 1885, and so did several of the other folio artists:  Finnemore (1880 and 1883); Brueton (1880, 1883 and 1885); Spittle (1880 and 1881); Newey (1883 and 1885); Harper (1874, 1877, 1883 and 1885) and Mills (1880 and 1881). 

William Wainwright awarded the prizes in 1885 having been a student in 1871 alongside Frederick Davis, and his good friend Walter Langley was a student from 1871 to 1874 when he won a scholarship to South Kensington School of Art (now the V&A Museum). Newey and Harper also became teachers at the school.

A thriving art community in Birmingham

Birmingham had a thriving art community in 1887 and there were several art organisations where artists could obtain membership and exhibit their work. These included the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA), the Birmingham Art Circle, the Birmingham Easel Club and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours.

Most of the folio artists became members of the RBSA; Woodward was an exception because of his emigration to Australia in 1889. Artists could seek associate membership initially, before being elected to full membership if their work was of sufficient quality. The RBSA also ran student workshops and in 1877 Langley, Harper and Wainwright were elected to the costume class.  Wainwright was one of the most prominent members amongst this group, and apart from contributing work to exhibitions, he was appointed Professor of Painting and served as honorary secretary and president. Mills, who gave up art by 1911 to work in his father’s gun engraving business, was not a member, and neither was Brueton who left Birmingham to take up an art teaching post in Brighton.  However, both may have exhibited at the RBSA as non-members.

The RBSA had strong connections with the Birmingham Art Circle and William Wainwright and Walter Langley were two of the founding members. At its first exhibition in 1881 it was hailed as a society for promoting unity and friendship among the young artists of the town.  Most of the artists who exhibited work at RBSA exhibitions also exhibited work with the Birmingham Art Circle.

At the Birmingham Easel Club, Newey was the first president, and Harper, Wainwright and Langley exhibited work at the 1889 exhibition. Davis, Wainwright and Langley were also members of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours.

Another theme linking the lives of these artists was that, after studying at the Birmingham School of Art, six of them continued their art study at the Antwerp School of Art under Professor Charles Verlat, who also taught van Gogh. Following their time at Antwerp, Davis, Spittle, Wainwright and Woodward went on to study at the Bouguereau Studio in Paris.

Bringing together artists

This folio is a fascinating snapshot of the vibrant art scene in 1880s Birmingham. The publication of the folio brought together established artists like Walter Langley with emerging artists who were just embarking on their careers. It represented an important opportunity not only to get their work circulated among the public, but also to have it placed directly into the hands of the Queen. We can imagine the young Arthur Woodward networking among his friends and associates, mining the rich vein of talent which had been nurtured at the Birmingham School of Art and the RBSA.

Some tantalising questions remain: did Margaret Nettlefold meet any of these artists during her time at the School of Art?  Did the Nettlefolds own a copy of the Jubilee folio?  We may never know, but the folio is an exciting addition to Winterbourne’s collection.

Tony Bucknall
Archives Volunteer