George Tinworth 1843 - 1913

Born in Walworth South London to a wheelwright in 1843. He may have been aware of the Chartist meeting and subsequent enclosure of nearby Kennington Park (then a common) in 1852. Brought up to follow in his fathers footsteps, he spent his spare time carving off-cuts and soon showed a precocious talent for art. At nineteen he pawned his overcoat to pay for a set of evening classes at the local Lambeth School of Art in Kennington Park Road. In the same year of his life he created the magnificent 'The Mocking of Christ', which is now on show at the Cuming Museum on the Walworth Road, Southwark.

From The Lambeth School of Art (Still going strong as The City & Guilds of London Art School) he went on to the Royal Academy art school in 1864 winning various medals for his work. After the Royal Academy he got a job at Doultons, the famous Lambeth pottery manufacturer in 1866. It was at this point that Doultons started producing art pottery with George Tinworth as their main designer. His dad died in 1867 so he was left as the main supporter of his mother and family.

At Doultons he produced vases, jugs, humourous figures and animals and larger pieces. The Cuming Museum contains three examples of his life-sized clay heads and a terracotta scene entitled 'The Jews making bricks under Egyptian Taskmasters'. This last was presented to the museum by Doulton and Co in 1914 as a memorial to Tinworth. Strange, as it would seem to me, and surely to George and his contemporaries, as an allegory of the exploitation of his fellow clayworkers.

Many of his pieces were shown at the Royal Academy where they were admired by John Ruskin, amongst others. The first to be exhibited there in the year he joined the school was a group of children fighting called 'Peace and Wrath in Low Life'. A large scale terracotta fountain, 'The Fountain of Life', was donated to Kennington Park by Henry Doulton in 1872 (or 1869?). This was vandalised in the 1980s and The Friends of the Park are currently seeking funding for its restoration.

Other pieces by Tinworth are to be found in the Lambeth based Museum of Garden History and in the panel above the entrance to the former Doulton Works in Black Prince Road, Lambeth. Does the V & A in Kensington have any of his work?

The Cuming Museum has an old book devoted to Tinworth and when I get time I'll update this page with more information from this book. Szczels 23:41, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC) The CUMING MUSEUM has George's major independent art project in storage. This is a 4 foot high model of a project for a Albert Memorial like memorial to Southwarks connection with Shakespeare made in 1904. Enough public donations were never achieved to realise it unfortunately. It does show that Tinworth made ambitious autonomous art projects, as well as the things he did as part of his job at Doultons.