George Stubbs, artist 1724-1806

[tenterfieldjulie]

I always been a great fan of George Stubbs and in looking at George Minto Brown/William George Stubbs Minto, whose mother was Mary/Maria Stubbs, I have been looking at the online genealogy of George Stubbs, artist.
I was amazed to see, for such a world renowned artist, that his genealogy online is sketchy.
I can see that George Stubbs was born on 25 August 1724 at Liverpool, he was the son of a currier & leather merchant. He was one of five children, his father died in 1741.
There is a lot written about his life and art, but not his family.
His common law wife was Mary Spencer and he had children, one of whom was George Townly Stubbs.
George died in London on 10 July 1806 in poor financial circumstances.
Can anyone find a biography with more family history ... or would like a challenge:D!! Cheers Julie

[Phoenix]

He did leave a will, Julie.

[Phoenix]

Will of George Stubbs, Painter of Saint Marylebone , Middlesex

Prerogative Court of Canterbury and related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers. Will of George Stubbs, Painter of Saint Marylebone , Middlesex.

Collection: Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Date range: 16 July 1806 - 16 July 1806
Reference:PROB 11/1447/52
Subjects:Wills and probate

[Phoenix]

He left enough to be considered for Death Duty & his death was at Somerset St Portman Square.

[Phoenix]

Ancestry has Richard, son of George Stubbs & Mary Spencer b 3 Dec 1781, bp 1811 in St Marylebone.

[Phoenix]

It looks as if Richard married Elizabeth Higgins, had a couple of children, but died young & was buried 29 October 1815 in St Marylebone.

[Shona]

Here's something, but I can't find the sourse.

'In this arduous work at Horkstow, Stubbs's only assistant was Mary Spencer (d. 1817), according to Humphry ‘the posthumous child of Captain Spencer of the Guinea Trade’. Born like Stubbs in Liverpool (at an unknown date: Fountain suggests 1741), she remained with him throughout his life and was his sole legatee. Almost everything about their relationship is obscure. Humphry first refers to her as Stubbs's ‘Female Relation & Friend’, then inserts ‘his Aunt’; edited transcripts made by William Upcott alter this to ‘Niece’, then to ‘Aunt’ and again to ‘Niece’. Mary Spencer is now assumed to have been Stubbs's common-law wife. Possibly either Stubbs or Mary Spencer had contracted an early, failed marriage which prevented a marriage of their own. Probably Mary Spencer was the mother of three of Stubbs's children, George (almost certainly the son later known as George Townly Stubbs), whose baptism on 26 February 1748 NS is recorded in the registers of St Helen's Church, York (information traced by David Alexander), Charles Edward, also born in York, and Mary, whose burial in Liverpool on 18 September 1759 is recorded in the registers of St Peter's, Liverpool; for both these children the father's name is entered as ‘George Stubbs, Limner’, but the mother's name is not recorded. Mary Spencer is named as the mother (and George Stubbs as the father) of Richard Stubbs, born in London on 16 August 1791, named as ‘Richard Spencer Stubbs’, and as a legatee in the first draft of Stubbs's will (1794), but not baptized until 18 November 1811, five years after his father's death (St Marylebone register of baptisms). A Robert Stubbs, apprenticed to the engraver William Austin in 1761, was described as ‘Relat. of the celebrated Horse Painter’ when he won a premium from the Society of Arts in 1766; but the nature of his relationship to George Stubbs remains unknown.'

[tenterfieldjulie]

Thanks Phoenix and Shona. I was interested to find a 2005 query to RW about George Stubbs, who the man making the query said "apart from the Beatles, I imagine him (George Stubbs) to be one of the most famous sons of Liverpool".
Query in part said .. George "was the eldest son of Mary and John Stubbs and was christened at St. Nicholas, Liverpool on 31st August,(1724?) but I can't find anything about the other (4 siblings) children......
Conflicting accounts of his marital status. Most sources only refer to Mary Spencer who assisted him from 1756 (when his mother died) and became his life long companion. One source claims that between 1748-55 he fathered four children, but there is no record of a marriage or of his partner's name.
Baptism records show two sons - George Townley (1748) and Charles Edward (1750) at St. Helen's, Stonegate, York; a daughter - Mary Ann (1752) at Holy Trinity, Hull; another son, John (1755) at St. Nicholas, Liverpool.
Most sources refer to Mary Spencer as George's common-law wife having given birth to George Townley in 1756, which contradicts the account of a different earlier mother and the baptism record of 1748. This later George Townley was an accomplished portrait artist and died in 1815. Could there have been two George Townley (Stubbs?)
To add to the confusion it appears that another son, Richard, was born to George Stubbs and Mary Spencer in 1781. Richard initially carried the surname of Spencer but changed it to Stubbs when baptised as an adult."
Hoh boy no wonder there are few written accounts of his family and forebears. Julie

[Phoenix]

It's a pity they don't say where Mary Spencer died. If a London burial suggests a birth date of 1741, then she would have been pushed a bit to be the mother of George TOWNLEY Stubbs b 1748, but feasibly the mother of Richard.

I wonder where the first draft of the will was found, and when the second was written: George Townley Stubbs died in 1802, which might have altered George's plans if his probably legitimate heir was no longer around.

I also wonder if the aunt/neice problem was caused by there being two George Stubbs around.

[Phoenix]

George Townley Stubbs Burial 18 Oct 1802 St Marylebone, Middlesex

From Ancestry

[tenterfieldjulie]

It was interesting that he left a will, because I have seen it written that he died in impoverished circumstances. Maybe that was expressed relative to the value of his paintings. Julie

[Phoenix]

I wonder if the DNB (who quote death in 1815) and all the others heard "his son died in 1815"?

[Phoenix]

My idea of someone wealthy in 1806 is someone leaving £500, but that wasn't Jane Austen's notion of wealth. As you say, it would depend on the circles he moved in.