George Charles Beresford by Sir William Orpen

George Charles Beresford (10 July 1864 – 21 February 1938) was a British studio photographer, originally from Drumlease,

Dromahair Dromahair () is a village in County Leitrim in the northern part of Connacht, the western province in Ireland. Dromahair is 10 km (6 mi) from Manorhamilton and 17 km (10 mi) from Sligo town. Geography Dromahair lies in th ...

, County Leitrim.

Early life

A member of the Beresford family headed by the

Marquess of Waterford Marquess of Waterford is a title in the Peerage of Ireland and the premier marquessate in that peerage. It was created in 1789 for George Beresford, 2nd Earl of Tyrone. It is presently held by Henry Beresford, 9th Marquess of Waterford. The Be ...

and the third of five children, he was the son of Major Henry Marcus Beresford (1835–1895) and Julia Ellen Maunsell (d. 1923).George Charles Beresford
Thepeerage.com. Retrieved on 23 April 2018. His paternal grandfather was the Most Reverend Marcus Beresford,

Archbishop of Armagh In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

, youngest son of the Right Reverend George Beresford,

Bishop of Kilmore The Bishop of Kilmore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the parish of Kilmore, County Cavan in Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bishop ...

, second son of John Beresford, second son of Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone. Beresford was sent to Westward Ho! in 1877 and attended the United Services College.

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

's character M'Turk in his collection of school stories set at the College, Stalky & Co., was based on Beresford, whose autobiography ''Schooldays with Kipling'' appeared in 1936. On leaving in 1882 he enrolled at the

Royal Indian Engineering College The Royal Indian Engineering College (or RIEC) was a British college of Civil Engineering run by the India Office to train civil engineers for service in the Indian Public Works Department. It was located on the Cooper's Hill estate, near Egha ...

at Cooper's Hill, and from there went to India in 1882 as a civil engineer in the Public Works Department. After four years he contracted

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...

and returned to England to study art, eventually exhibiting at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

Later life

Between 1902 and 1932 he worked from a studio in Knightsbridge at 20 Yeoman's Row, Brompton Road. Here he produced

platinotype Platinum prints, also called ''platinotypes'', are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process involving platinum. Platinum tones range from warm black, to reddish brown, to expanded mid-tone grays that are unobtainable in silver ...

portraits of writers, artists and politicians who were celebrities of the time. His images were used in publications such as ''The World's Work'', ''

The Sketch ''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine with regular features on roy ...

'', '' The Tatler'' and ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...

''. He donated substantially to the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. In his later years he became an antique dealer. In 1943 the National Portrait Gallery acquired some of his negatives and prints from his former secretary. Beresford was a close friend of Augustus John and

Sir William Orpen Major Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, (27 November 1878 – 29 September 1931) was an Irish artist who worked mainly in London. Orpen was a fine draughtsman and a popular, commercially successful painter of portraits for the well-to-do in ...

, another Irishman – they produced a number of images of each other.

Family

Major Henry Marcus Beresford (2 March 1835 – 5 February 1895) and Julia Ellen Maunsell (died 13 October 1923) were married on 10 April 1861. Their children were: # Lt.-Col. Kennedy Beresford (25 January 1862 – 25 April 1943) x Grace Des Barres – 1 Gervais De La Poer Beresford, 2 Sybil Beresford # Marcus Francis Beresford (26 December 1862 – 14 December 1896) x Fanny Catherine Wingfield # George Charles Beresford (10 July 1864 – 21 February 1938) # Henry Lowry Lambert Beresford (November 1869 – 25 September 1932) # Eva Emily Beresford d. 18 February 1960 x Anthony Fritz MaudeBeresford family

Gallery

File:George Charles Beresford - Virginia Woolf in 1902 - Restoration.jpg,

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born ...

(1902) File:Olive Custance, 1902.jpg,

Olive Custance Olive Eleanor Custance (7 February 1874 – 12 February 1944), also known as Lady Alfred Douglas, was an English poet and wife of Lord Alfred Douglas. She was part of the aesthetic movement of the 1890s, and a contributor to ''The Yellow Boo ...

(1902) File:Charles Haslewood Shannon; Charles de Sousy Ricketts by George Charles Beresford.jpg, Charles Ricketts and Charles Haslewood Shannon (1903) File:Lord Alfred Douglas by George Charles Beresford (1903).jpg,

Lord Alfred Douglas Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carried a homoer ...

(1903) File:Joseph Conrad-remastered to black and white.png,

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not spe ...

(1904)

References

External links

2006 Stamp Issue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beresford, George Charles 1864 births Alumni of the Royal Indian Engineering College 1938 deaths Photographers from Northern Ireland George People from County Leitrim