George Charles Beresford

George Charles Beresford (10 July 1864 - 21 February 1938), was a Victorian studio photographer, originally from Drumlease, Dromahair, County Leitrim. [ [http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_schoolbefore_notes.htm Kipling Org.] ]

He was the son of Henry Marcus Beresford (1835-1895) and Julia Ellen Maunsell (?-1923), and the third of five children [ [http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=freer&id=I55245 Rootsweb] ] .

Beresford was sent to Westward Ho! in 1877 and attended the United Services College. On leaving in 1882 he enrolled at the Royal Indian Engineering College 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 and returned to England to study art, eventually exhibiting at the Royal Academy

Between 1902 and 1932 he worked from a studio in Knightsbridge at 20 Yeoman's Row, Brompton Road. Here he produced platinotype 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 Tatler" and "The Illustrated London News". He donated substantially to the Red Cross in WWI and later turned to a very successful dealing in antiques. 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, another Irishman - they produced a number of images of each other. [ [http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1997/09/msg00226.html The Beresford Collections] ]
Kipling's character M'Turk in Stalky & Co. was based on Beresford, whose autobiography "Schooldays with Kipling" appeared in 1936.

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:
*1 Lt.-Col. Kennedy Beresford (25 January 1862 - 25 April 1943) x Grace Des Barres - 1 Gervais De La Poer Beresford, 2 Sybil Beresford
*2 Marcus Francis Beresford (26 December 1862 - 14 December 1896) x Fanny Catherine Wingfield
*3 George Charles Beresford (10 July 1864 - 21 February 1938)
*4 Henry Lowry Lambert Beresford (November 1869 - 25 September 1932)
*5 Eva Emily Beresford d. 18 Feb 1960 x Anthony Fritz Maude [ [http://thepeerage.com/p3225.htm#i32249 The Peerage] ] [ [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/Members/nigel.battysmith/Database/D0030/I16744.html Beresford family] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.norvic-philatelics.co.uk/2006/07-npg.htm 2006 Stamp Issue]
* [http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_stalky_characters.htm Kipling.org]