| Nelson Dawson |
briefingnote Alan Tutt takes a closer look at this 'unsung' Stamford artist One might be hard pressed to make associations between Stamford and art. Architecture, certainly, but art? Perhaps only Wilfrid Wood springs to mind or the solitary Turner painting of High Street St Martin's. However, an early twentieth century watercolour artist, etcher and craftsman of high reputation originated here in the town. Nelson Ethelred Dawson was born in 1859 at 27 St Mary's Street, now, ironically, a part of Stamford Arts Centre and he would go on to become an important figure in the Arts and Crafts movement as a designer, enameller and metal worker. Nelson was the son of Edwin and Emma Dawson, the eldest of eight children. Edwin was a cook and confectioner who was the proprietor of Dawson's Tearooms, also in St Mary's Street at number seven.Young Nelson attended Stamford School - indeed in later years he produced a unique design of the school emblem - and like many a schoolboy would have irreverently twiddled the Brazenose knocker that hung in St Paul's Street. After school he studied architecture with Stamford architect, J B Corby. Nelson quickly acquired a passion for painting coupled with a love of the sea. Many of his best works are marine scenes. Was he perhaps inspired by his christian name and the family legend of an ancestor who fought with the Nelson at the Battle of the Nile? Regardless, he took the risk of an artist's life, moving first to London, then Scarborough to learn his art. It was in Scarborough that he met his future first wife, Edith Robinson - also an artist - and they had two daughters, also talented artists. Inspired by William Morris - and also a lack of money - Dawson took up metalwork and, back in London, taught his wife the craft. Together they combined to create a distinctive style, producing ornaments, jewellery, architectural fittings, shields and so on made in wrought iron, steel, bronze, gold and silver. Among many commissions, they designed the mallet and trowel used by Queen Victoria when she laid the foundation stone of the V & A Museum in 1899; the casket presented to President Wilson when he visited England for the 1919 peace conference; and a silver salver bearing the Stamford arms for the town regalia, currently lodged in the Town Hall. After WWI he returned to painting and etching and spent a great deal of 1934 painting Stamford - some of these works were presented to his old school. He died in Chiswick on October 28th 1941, aged 82, his obituary appearing in the Times.The British Museum holds a large collection of his etchings and Stamford Museum holds some items that will make an appearance in a Nelson Dawson exhibition in the future. * Pictures kindly provided by Stamford Museum (LCC) |
