Stephen Tomlin (2 March 1901 – 5 January 1937) was a British artist associated with the

Bloomsbury Set The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...

. He was the youngest son of the judge and law lord Thomas, Lord Tomlin of Ash.

Life

Dora Carrington; Stephen Tomlin; Walter John Herbert ('Sebastian') Sprott; Lytton Strachey, June 1926

Tomlin studied classics at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

from January 1919. However, he suffered a nervous breakdown following the death of a fellow student and left after two terms. He then became a pupil of

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...

and later established a career as a portrait sculptor. Tomlin's circle of friends, and sitters for portraits, included many members of the Bloomsbury Group, particularly second generation members like

Francis Birrell Francis Frederick Locker Birrell (17 February 1889 – 2 January 1935) was an English writer and bookseller. Birrell was the son of Augustine Birrell and Eleanor Tennyson (born Locker-Lampson). It was the second marriage for each of his parent ...

and

David Garnett David Garnett (9 March 1892 – 17 February 1981) was an English writer and publisher. As a child, he had a cloak made of rabbit skin and thus received the nickname "Bunny", by which he was known to friends and intimates all his life. Early ...

. Tomlin was bisexual and had affairs with a number of members of the Bloomsbury set including

Henrietta Bingham Henrietta Bingham (January 3, 1901 – June 17, 1968) was a wealthy American journalist, newspaper executive and horse breeder. When she was twelve, she was present when her mother was killed in a road accident which traumatized the whole famil ...

and

Dora Carrington Dora de Houghton Carrington (29 March 1893 – 11 March 1932), known generally as Carrington, was an English painter and decorative artist, remembered in part for her association with members of the Bloomsbury Group, especially the writer Lytton ...

. In 1927 he married

Julia Strachey Julia Strachey (14 August 1901 – 1979) was an English writer, born in Allahabad, India, where her father, Oliver Strachey, the elder brother of Lytton Strachey, was a civil servant. Her mother, Ruby Mayer (1881-1959), was of Swiss-German orig ...

, niece of

Lytton Strachey Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of ''Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychological insight ...

. His relationships with men are less well attested, probably due to the necessity of concealing homosexual activity which was at that time illegal in the United Kingdom under the

Criminal Law Amendment Act Criminal Law Amendment Act (with its many variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Canada, India, Pakistan and South Africa which amends the criminal law (including both substantive an ...

Virginia Woolf, Tavistock Square, London

One of Tomlin's boyfriends, known as 'H', also had a relationship with the artist

Duncan Grant Duncan James Corrowr Grant (21 January 1885 – 8 May 1978) was a British painter and designer of textiles, pottery, theatre sets and costumes. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group. His father was Bartle Grant, a "poverty-stricken" major ...

. 'H' worked in the drapery department at the now defunct Jones Brothers’ department store on the Holloway Road. When he and Tomlin visited Lytton Strachey at Ham Spray in the 1930s, 'H' was obliged to sleep downstairs with the servants. Tomlin co-founded The Cranium dining club with

, another member of the Bloomsbury Group; the club met every month to exchange ideas. Tomlin died in 1937 at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Boscombe, Hampshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomlin, Stephen 1901 births 1937 deaths Artists from London Alumni of New College, Oxford English LGBT sculptors Sons of life peers 20th-century LGBT people

Life

Further reading

References