James Shotton


James Shotton was a North Shields born 19th-century artist. He painted a portrait of Thomas Haswell, a North Shields songwriter.

Brief details

Shotton was born in North Shields in 1824.
He showed a talent for drawing from an early age and later attended the Royal Academy Schools, where he became a friend of William Holman Hunt.
When his father died he returned to North Shields. In 1857, he designed the second domestic Victorian Turkish bath to be built in England at Tyneside House, home of local ironmaster George Crawshay. Shotton had earlier been taken by Crawshay to see the first Victorian Turkish bath in the British Isles being built at Blarney, near Cork in Ireland. In 1869, Shotton designed the Cecil Street Turkish Baths in North Shields, in which Crawshay had shares, and followed this in 1874 by designing one in Pilgrim Street for the Turkish Bath Company Limited.
After the earlier resumption of his artistic studies, he gained quite a reputation being accepted by the Royal Academy in 1863. He was a member of the Cullercoats Artists' Colony, and he rarely exhibited his work, but was well regarded as a portrait painter, twice painting Wesley Stoker Barker Woolhouse, one version of which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1863; and also James Edington.
He also met the Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi when he stayed in Tynemouth in 1854, and painted his portrait. The two remained lifelong friends and continued corresponding for many years.
Shotton died in North Shields in 1896.

Works

These include :-