TOLLEMACHE, Hon. Duff

1859 - 1936

Duff James Alfred Tollemache was born at Peckforton Castle, Tarporley, Cheshire on 5 January 1859 and baptised in the parish Church of St Boniface, Peckforton on 13 February 1859, seventh son of the nine children of John, 1st Baron Tollemache (1805-1890) of Helmingham, Suffolk, and his second wife [Minnie] Eliza Georgina Duff (1828-1918), stepdaughter of Lord Rendlesham, who married at Rendlesham Hall, Suffolk on 12 January 1850, the Baron's first wife was Georgina Louisa née Best, who died in 1846 after having five children. Duff was educated at Cheam School and studied at the Royal Academy Schools and the Académie Julian in Paris and found work in the studios of sea painter François Musin (1820-1888) in Brussels and Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) and Alfred Stevens (1823-1906) in Paris. A painter of landscapes, marines and portraits and a member of the Ipswich Fine Art Club 1881-1931 and exhibited from 8 St James’s Square, London in 1882, an oil 'Old Hulks, Portsmouth Harbour', in 1884 'Runswick Cobbles' and three oils in 1885, 'Fading Glory', 'After the Catch' and 'On the Coast of Britanny' and was an irregular exhibitor exhibiting in 1916, 'The Rocks of Finisterre' also exhibiting in 1889 at the Woodbridge Art Exhibition at the Assembly Room, Bull Hotel, Woodbridge his 'H.M.S. Victory'. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy 1888-1932; the Birmingham Royal Society of Artists; Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts; Walker Art Gallery; Manchester City Art Gallery; New Gallery; Royal Society of British Artists; Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour; Royal Institute of Oil Painters and Royal Scottish Academy from 1883-1932. To provide for his large family, in 1888 his father Lord John Tollemache, decided to sell some of the family pictures housed at Peckforton ‘comforting himself with the thought that one of his sons, Duff, was an accomplished artist and would be able to copy them.’ Duff Tollemache, as he was known, had various addresses in London until about 1899 when he settled at 131 Oakwood Court, Kensington but throughout his life-maintained contact with his family at Helmingham Hall, Suffolk. He married at Birmingham on 30 June 1897, Emily Tollemache née Beer. Duff James Alfred Tollemache died at Bournemouth on 18 April 1936, without issue. At the centenary exhibition of the Ipswich Art Club in 1974, two of his oil paintings were on show, a seascape 'The Chase of a Slaver' and a portrait 'William Augustus Tollemache'. He signed his works 'Duff Tollemache'.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from 65 Harley Street, West London
1888 1066 Reeds and Rushes
from 10 St James's Square, Southwest London
1889 240 The Lord Tollemache of Helmingham
from 57 Glebe Place, Chelsea
1895 278 An Amateur
         854 Mrs. Taylor
from 17 Nassau Street, Middlesex Hospital
1896 19 Portrait of a Lady
from 131 Oakwood Court, Kensington, West London
1903 205 Off the Lizard
1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1932

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Works by This Artist