William George Paulson Townsend (1868–1941) was an English artist, designer, writer and editor.

Early life

Born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

in 1868, Townsend's father was a third generation coachbuilder and designer. His younger brother,

Ernest Townsend Ernest Townsend (1 January 1880 – 22 January 1944) was a British portraitist from Derby. Townsend studied at Derby College of Art, Heatherleys in Chelsea and the Royal Academy. Among his works were a 1915 portrait of the Right Hon. Wins ...

rose to prominence as an artist.

Career and works

William pursued a career as an art teacher, becoming teacher of drawing, government examiner of art and master of design at the

Royal School of Needlework The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is a hand embroidery school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1872 and based at Hampton Court Palace since 1987. History The RSN began as the School of Art Needlework in 1872, founded by Lady Victoria Welby ...

. Some of his wallpaper designs and some watercolour copies of Botticelli works survive in the collection at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. He wrote and published widely on the decorative arts and particularly encouraged the study of design through examination of museum exhibits.

The Art Workers' Quarterly

Apart from books and journal articles, Townsend produced and

edited Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

The Art Workers' Quarterly, a serial published quarterly by Chapman and Hall. The title was established in 1902 "to supply designs in a readily applicable form to those who do not invent, plan, or adapt ornament, and who find difficulty in obtaining good and suitable suggestions for their work". Articles covered the work and activities of the art and craft schools, organisations, guilds and societies of the time, exhibition reviews and analytical pieces as well as illustrated articles on art and craft techniques. Not only did Townsend contribute to the publication, he was successful in garnering contributions from several notable writers on the Arts and Crafts movement including

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

, Alexander Fisher, A. Romney Green, James Guthrie, J. Illingworth Kay,

May Morris Mary "May" Morris (25 March 1862 – 17 October 1938) was an English artisan, embroidery designer, jeweller, socialist, and editor. She was the younger daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and his wife and artists' m ...

, Bernard Rackham, Silvester Sparrow, Alfred Stevens and

Lawrence Weaver Sir Lawrence Walter William Weaver (1876–1930) was an English architectural writer and civil servant. Early years Lawrence Weaver was the son of Walter and Frances Weaver of Clifton, Bristol. He was educated at Clifton College and was trained ...

. Articles included reviews of the works of

Charles Robert Ashbee Charles Robert Ashbee (17 May 1863 – 23 May 1942) was an English architect and designer who was a prime mover of the Arts and Crafts movement, which took its craft ethic from the works of John Ruskin and its co-operative structure from the soc ...

Sidney Barnsley Ernest (born Arthur Ernest Barnsley (1863 –1926) but known as Ernest Barnsley) and Sidney Howard Barnsley (25 February 1865 – 25 September 1926) were Arts and Crafts movement master builders, furniture designers and makers associated with Erne ...

Bernard Cuzner Bernard Lionel Cuzner (1877 – 4 January 1956) was an England, English silversmith and product designer. Cuzner was born in Alcester in Warwickshire and initially trained as a watchmaker, before showing talent as a silversmith while taking e ...

, Alexander Fisher, Arthur Gaskin,

Ernest Gimson Ernest William Gimson (; 21 December 1864 – 12 August 1919) was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputati ...

, Ambrose Heal Jr., Ernestine Mills,

, Charles Spooner,

Heywood Sumner George Heywood Maunoir Sumner (1853–1940) was originally an English painter, illustrator and craftsman, closely involved with the Arts and Crafts movement and the late-Victorian London art world. In his mid-forties he relocated to Cuckoo Hill, ...

, Mary Seton Fraser Tytler (Mrs G. F. Watts),

C.F.A. Voysey Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (28 May 1857 – 12 February 1941) was an English architect and furniture and textile designer. Voysey's early work was as a designer of wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings in a Arts and Crafts style and he ma ...

and Paul Woodroffe. The associated publication company that Townsend established with Arthur F. Wallis was wound up in 1905. The title appeared quarterly until 1906 and with two further editions in August and December 1908.

Family

His father, James Townsend was a coach builder in Derby, his brother

was an artist, within the family he was known as "Darby". He married Jessie Beatrice Jones in 1898 and they lived most of their lives in

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. They had two sons, Philip (1899 – 1959) and Geoffrey (1911 – 2002). Geoffrey became notable as an architect and property developer, co-founding

Span Developments Span Developments Limited was a British property development company formed in the late 1950s by Geoffrey Townsend working in long and close partnership with Eric Lyons as consultant architect. During its most successful period in the 1960s, Span ...

with architect

Eric Lyons Eric Alfred Lyons Order of the British Empire, CBE (1912–1980) was a British designer and architect. He achieved critical recognition in his development of family and technology-embracing housing communities in England in the latter part of t ...

. William George Paulson Townsend died in 1941 in

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a large village with a retail area and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England. It has a railway station on the (London) Waterloo to Reading ...

, aged 73, survived by his wife and sons.

Selected publications

* * * (Reprinted 2005 by Dover Art Instruction and again in 2012 ). * * Preface and descriptive notes by W.G.P. Townsend. * * Preface and descriptive notes by W.G.P. Townsend.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, William George Paulson 1868 births 1941 deaths People from Derby English designers Arts and Crafts movement artists British textbook writers