MACHRIHANISH BAY - 1899

a pencil and watercolour painting by Charles Gilbert Heathcote (1841 - 1913)

It is unusual to find sellers on the eBay internet auction website who put any real degree of
effort into selling their wares, Foxhill Antiques however are doing just that and telling us not
only their knowledge of Machrihanish and the painting's provenance but also the story of the
painter's family and all that for starting price of just $9 for the picture in early December 2009,
this watercolour shows the famous bay near the village of Machrihanish, which is situated on
the western side of the remote Kintyre Peninsula.

Briefly, Charles Gilbert Heathcote was born into a prominent family in 1841 at Conington
Castle in Huntingdonshire. He was the son of John Moyer Heathcote and Emily Frances, John
Moyer Heathcote also an artist and acquainted with many prominent artists of his time
including Peter DeWint and David Cox. Charles Heathcote was a prolific watercolourist,
completing over 500 watercolours, mostly 'plein aire' works, but his work was largely
unknown because he kept it in large portfolios in the the library of the family home. Educated
at Trinity College Cambridge and a Fellow of Emmanuel College, where he was also a tutor,
Charles was stipendry magistrate of Brighton and chairman of The Board of the Municipal
Science and Art Schools of Brighton. Along with his father he exhibited his watercolours at
Peterborough School of Science and Art from 1874 to 1887, but neither Heathcote sold their
works, Charles dying in 1913.

Charles Heathcote travelled to at least 22 countries and painted in many of them, though the
majority of his works are of English scenes, a large selection of his works exhibited at The
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Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee in July and August of 1984, a century after
his works were last shown at Peterborough and this watercolour was part of that exhibition,
he mentioned in Mallalieu's British Watercolour Artists up to 1920.

The inspiration to paint the picture here, possibly there may be more Kintyre subjects, seems
to have come from the Heathcote family's friendship with one Edward Bradley, a regular
visitor to their home at Conington Castle and Bradley, writing under his 'pen name' of
'Cuthbert Bede', writing of his 1859 visit to the west side of Kintyre in the two-volume
"Glencreggan" and that making a lasting impression on the young Charles Heathcote, he then
just out of his teenage years when Bradley might have brought the family a copy of his new
book on a visit to their home in Huntingdonshire.

This is where the sky is big, the sunsets are dramatic and the air has been warmed by The
Gulf Stream and its relative inaccessibility has saved it from becoming more commercialised.

The local links course was begun in 1876, which is probably why the Heathcotes had traveled
there as he was quite a sportsman and, in 1906, the area was known for quite another reason
. . . Canadian Reginald Fessenden, "The Father of Radio Broadcasting" and The Fessenden
Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada, building a Radio Transmitting Station at Uisead Point
at Machrihanish, the remains of which can still be seen there.

Here Fessenden's staff began broadcasting to a similar station at Brant Rock, Massachusetts,
on January 2, 1906 and eventually succeeded in receiving a message back, this, rather than
Marconi's experimental transmissions, being recognised as the first transatlantic wireless
broadcast ! The feat was repeated a hundred years later on the anniversary of the first
broadcast.

A very beautiful watercolour with wonderful colouring, the painting here, originally from a
portfolio of watercolours and the colours are fresh and bright, was purchased indirectly from
the descendants of Heathcote's family and is in generally
fine condition.

The painting was also part of the Charles Gilbert Heathcote Watercolor exhibition in Memphis,
Tennessee from July 1 - August 12, 1984 and so is signed on the reverse by Heathcote's
great-grandaughter.

A highly important and very historical watercolour, the seller of the painting researched and
prepared a scholarly biography on this branch of the Heathcote family, particularly the father,
John Moyer Heathcote and his son, Charles Gilbert Heathcote, the painter of the picture, the
initial results of the research below.

The Heathcotes of Conington Castle (originally Connington) were descended from an eminent
family literally steeped in, as well as being an integral part of, the early history of England.

Originally thought to be called Hetcota or Hedcota in the times of Canute, the family slowly
settled various areas of England with the name filtering down through the ages as Heathcote.
One branch came to Conington Castle in the village of the same name in Huntingdonshire,
near Peterborough and Cambridge, in the mid-1700's.

There are traces of an ancient castle at Conington which was the seat of Turkill the Dane until
his banishment by Edward the Confessor. The property was then given by the King to
Waltheof (son of the Earl of Northumberland) who married Judith, the daughter of a sister of
William Tthe Conqueror.

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Unfortunately, Waltheof was involved in some sort of conspiracy and William proceeded to
have him executed, sending the property to Simon de St. Liz (Senlis).

Maud de Senlis married David Earl who ascended The Throne of Scotland, thus for a time,
Conington became the property of David I, King of Scotland.

Through a female line, Conington came to Robert Brus, then to his younger son and was then
inherited by Sir Robert Cotton (1570-1631), the antiquary, compiler of the Cottonian
Manuscripts and intimate friend of Camden.

Cotton built a large mansion, removing from Fotheringay Castle the room in which Mary,
Queen of Scots was beheaded.

The colonnade was also removed to Conington from Fotheringay which today is only a mound
and a few stones. But by 1724, Conington Castle was in ruins and most of the house had
been taken down and removed to the new Cotton seat of Stratton in Bedfordshire by Sir John
Cotton, the great-grandson of the antiquary, Dr. Stukeley noting "I was concerned to see a
stately old house, of hewn stone, large and handsome in dismal ruins. The deserted lares
and the genius of the place had fled", Sir Robert Cotton interestingly buried in Conington
Church.

Sir John Heathcote (1689-1759), son of Sir Gilbert Heathcote (1652-1733) one of the founders
of The Bank of England and Lord Mayor of London, purchased Conington from The Cotton
Estate for £2500 in 1753.

Gilbert Heathcote had been knighted by Queen Anne and created a Baronet in 1733, just 8
days before his death. He was also immensely wealthy as one can gather !

Sir John and his wife Bridget White, daughter of Thomas White, commenced draining and
improving the estate with the assistance of J. Burcham of Connisby. The estate then passed to
another John (circa 1730-1795), Sir John's second son, who married Lydia (d 1822), the
daughter of Benjamin Moyer in 1764. and the couple commissioned Thomas Gainsborough to
paint a magnificent portrait of their son, at 4 - 5 years old, in 1771 - 1772, the portrait,
which had remained in the Heathcote family until 1913, now hanging in The National Gallery
of Art, Washington D.C..

As the usable ruins of Conington Castle had been converted to a farmhouse, it was this next
John Heathcote (1767-1838) and his wife Mary Anne (d 1854), daughter of George Thornhill
Esq., who would be responsible for completing the improvements and restoration begun by Sir
John several generations before. The castle was completely rebuilt to designs by Mr. Cockerell
so that by 1800, a year after their marriage, it was fully habitable. With the birth of their son,
John Moyer, in the same year of completion, the serious artistic endeavours of the Heathcote
family began.

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This is a watercolour portrait of John Moyer Heathcote by Richard Dighton (1795-1880),
probably done circa 1850 - 1860.
Dighton painting very much in the "Vanity Fair" type of caricature style, as one can tell.

John Moyer Heathcote (1800-1892) was the first of his line to be born in the new and improved
Conington Castle. As his grandfather was a Fellow of The Royal Society and his father went to
Queen's College Cambridge and was later the MP and Sheriff for the area, the family was
certainly scientific-minded and well-educated. John Moyer Heathcote went to Eton and then
graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge in 1822. He married the Honourable Emily
Frances (1811-1849), daughter of The 3rd Lord Colborne in 1833.

John Moyer then came into his father's estates in 1838 and started a career of public service
as well as a series of gentlemanly pursuits. It is not known when he began his interest in
painting in watercolours but he is often described as one of the most capable students of Peter
de Wint (1784-1849), De Wint one of the more important and influential watercolourists of the
time in an era of highly important painters and De Wint not only an instructor but also a family
friend of the Heathcotes of Conington Castle, he staying there on several occasions and also
teaching the younger members of the family in watercolour painting, this including the young
Charles Gilbert Heathcote, who was given his first sketchbook on the occasion of his fifth
birthday in 1846.

John Moyer Heathcote also cultivated the friendships of other Royal Academy artists including
David Cox O.W.S. (1783 - 1859), George Fripp R.W.S. (1813 - 1896) and E.W. Cooke R.A.,
F.R.S. (1811 - 1880) all of whom were visitors at the Castle with the exception of David Cox,
who corresponded, but was never able to be a guest, Cox remarking in a letter to Heathcote
that "he would rather sketch in the fens than in The Highlands of Scotland".

John Moyer found time during his lengthy life to be Deputy Lieutenant, Justice of The Peace
and Magistrate for
Huntingdonshire. He twice contested Huntingdonshire for Parliament running unsuccessfully
as a Liberal. However, he was elected in 1857 against Edward Fellowes only to be unseated
after a "scrutiny" or recount. He wrote and illustrated a comprehensive publication entitled
"Reminiscences of Fen and Mere" in 1876. This valuable little book provided a number of
insights and personal anecdotes of life in The Fens prior to the extensive draining which took
place in the mid-1800's.

Before the drainage, the area was inundated with seasonal and tidal floods. George Thornhill
MP, John Moyer's grandfather-in-law, told a story that he once got into a gun boat from the
windows of the dining room at Conington Castle and paddled off to shoot coots on the
Conington Fen.
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Another tale about the estate was that the ground was so soft at times that the plough horses
had boards attached to their shoes by straps !

In 1844 Heathcote went with a deputation to meet with Lord Monteagle regarding the Middle
Level Bill in The House of Lords which was to finally complete the drainage requirements of the
area and put an end to the floods. This was ardently supported by Heathcote on behalf of Sir
John Rennie, the architect of the draining plans, Lord Fitzwilliam and Mr. Tycho Wing. But not
everyone was excited about this. Whittlesea Mere was to be a casualty of the draining so the
days of catching a 52 pound pike in the Mere were drawing to a close and Heathcote himself
talks of the excitement of meeting up with the Reverend Eastwick at Conington at 7:00 in the
morning on a winter's day and then skating all the way to Ely
Cathedral and back, arriving at Conington 12 hours later !

Aside from his civic duties, John Moyer cultivated interests in Field Sports, skating, naturally
and The Fine Arts, including photography.

A number of photographic negatives exist documenting windmills and scenes on the fens
dating back to 1852, so he was definitely experimenting with new artistic mediums. However
his first love continued to be the life of an indefatigable watercolour artist, he sketching nearly
every day up to the day of his death in 1892. He journeyed as far east as The Holy Land and
Egypt and as far west as Canada and, possibly, Yosemite in California, most of the time
accompanied by his son Charles.

He was friends with Professor Adam Sedgwick, with whom he corresponded frequently on
archaeological and natural history matters in the area and the Reverend Thomas Rooper, with
whom he went on many outings.

Cuthbert Bede, the pen name of Edward Bradley (1827 - 1889), Curate of Glatton and author
of "Glencreggan", the two-volume story of Bradley's visit to Kintyre in 1859, was also a
regular visitor to Conington Castle in his rambles about the country collecting tales and
folklore for his popular publications.

John Moyer was very interested in the local fauna and flora as was his friend, the artist E.W.
Cooke, who lamented the draining of the area and the potential loss of plants. He also went
to Ireland on several occasions to compare the peat bogs there with those in East Anglia and
his specialist in peat on The Emerald Isle was Mr Burgess of Parkanaur, Dungannon, County
Tyrone.

Everywhere Moyer went, he painted in watercolours, out of doors and on the spot. The
importance of this he must have instilled in his son, Charles Gilbert Heathcote (1841 - 1913).

The artist and travel writer Augustus John Cuthbert Hare (1834 - 1903), in his publication "The
Story of My Life", offers a wonderfully picturesque paragraph on John Moyer Heathcote in
1876 . . . "September 24, I came here yesterday to old Mr. Heathcote's. It is a low-lying
place in The Fens, close to what was once Whitlesea Mere, but is now drained, only patches
of trees and marshy ground remaining here and there.

"The house is near the site of an old castle, but its only claim to be called a castle itself arises
from its having been partly built out of the ruins of Fotheringhay, from which a row of arches
remain. To ordinary eyes the country is frightful, but Mr Heathcote, as an artist, sees much
beauty - which really does exist - in the long unbroken lines where the mere once was, and
the faint blue shadows in the short distances. And he has preserved very interesting
memorials of all that the district has been, within his memory, in an immense series of

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sketches of the mere in summer and in winter, when covered with people skating and of the
mere life, its fisheries, wild birds and its curious draining mills, now all of the past".
Some of Heathcote's works, particularly those of important Grand Tour locations such as
Heidelberg or Lake Thun, are remarkable works done in a large format with great presence in
the tradition of the best of British watercolour painting of the time.

Sometimes Heathcote would dash off a number of sketches of the same scene with several
variations so that each view is slightly different either from the perspective or time of day. His
known output is certainly not large, despite the references by Hare to "an immense series of
sketches", with only around 50 works or so coming to light publicly over the past five years
and less that half of those being fully completed paintings and not sketchbook pieces. Quite
probably there are portfolios of his works still being held by branches of the family or
languishing in public archives awaiting discovery.

Nevertheless, Heathcote was a man of great achievement who valued his friendships
earnestly and who was passionate about painting in watercolours, qualities he also passed on
to his son, Charles.

John Moyer Heathcote and his wife, Emily Frances, who tragically died in childbirth at the age
of 38 in 1849, had several children including John Moyer Heathcote (1834 - 1912), who
married Louisa Cecilia, the last daughter of the MacLeod Clan of Dunvegan Castle. John
Moyer Heathcote was also an artist, but was particularly known for being The Tennis Amateur
Singles winner in 1888, 17 times the winner of The MCC Gold & Silver Racquet Cup and such
an authority on the rules of both Real and Lawn Tennis that he authored the tennis volume in
The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes with the assistance of his younger brother,
Charles. Other children were William (b 1836), Mary Emily (b 1839), and Henry Francis (b
1849).

Charles Gilbert Heathcote (1841 - 1913), the painter of the Machrihanish Bay painting here,
was born into this heavily influential environment at Conington Castle and was destined to
lead a life very similar to his father's, but with a brighter and more confident palette.

The third son of John Moyer Heathcote, Charles was educated at Trinity College Cambridge. In
1862, he completed the First Class Classical Tripos (Honours), reading in Philosophy, Politics
and Economics. He then became a Fellow of Emmanuel College as well as a Tutor.

Judging from the dates on his watercolours, he was already travelling with his father abroad
as early as 1859 painting Egypt and other Middle Eastern scenes.

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Following in the public service footsteps of his father, Charles was Stipendiary Magistrate of
Brighton and Chairman of The Board of the Municipal Science and Art Schools of Brighton.
Both father and son exhibited their works at The Peterborough School of Science and Art from
1874 to 1887, but in keeping with the usual behaviour of the landed gentry, neither one ever
sold their watercolours.

To cite a finding that has just been made, Charles was a very active member of the famous
Alpine Club of Covent Garden, who are celebrating their 150th anniversary this year (2007) as
the first of the mountaineering clubs throughout The World and, in honour of this anniversary,
1857 - 2007, the club has published a book on the paintings created by it's members, "The
Artists of The Alpine Club", but there is not one work by Charles Gilbert Heathcote in the
collection as no one knew
that he painted watercolours of his trips to the French, Italian and Swiss Alps !

In 1869, Charles married the Honourable Lucy Edith Wrottesley (1848 - 1918), daughter of
the Honourable Walter Wrottesley (1810 - 1872), 4th son of The 1st Lord Wrottesley and
Marianne Lucy Archer (1816 - 1848), who, like Emily Frances Heathcote before, died in
childbirth. Lucy was an amateur watercolourist and painted occasionally, particularly on
family outings, their three children were Walter John (1870 - 1936), Isabel Lucy (1872 - 1961)
and Mabel Frances (1873 - 1955) and of particular interest is a photograph of the family
sketching which shows Walter sitting on the ground with his sketchbook, the three ladies
sitting on stools with their sketchbooks and Charles standing in the process of setting up a
proper easel for himself.

Charles completed over 500 watercolours during his lifetime and traveled to at least 22
countries. The majority of his works are on familiar ground throughout The British Isles and
Ireland, visiting various outposts of the Heathcote family such as Dunvegan Castle in The Isle
of Skye.

When his son Walter joined The Diplomatic Service, numerous excursions were taken to
Greece, North Africa and The Middle East, where Walter was variously stationed. The South
of France was a regular holiday destination as Charles greatly loved the colours and his health
greatly loved the weather.

Virtually every watercolour was painted from nature and he enjoyed the spontaneity of
completing a work in situ which gives to his paintings a particular freshness and luminosity of
colour unachievable in a studio.

All of his watercolours were carefully taken home and put into huge leather-bound portfolio
albums to be privately viewed in the library, hence the lack of knowledge of his talents in The
Alpine Club.

In other activities, Charles was a founder of The All England Lawn Tennis Club, frequent judge
at Wimbledon, contributor with his elder brother in writing the Lawn Tennis section of The
Badminton Library and creator of the hour-glass design for the tennis ball which is still in use
today.

In 1902, Charles and Lucy retired to Hampshire buying a historic manor house which dated
back to 961 and this became the seat of his branch of the family to this day.

Conington was to left to lapse into disrepair after WWI and was torn down in the 1950's by the
last of the Heathcote's to reside there and is no longer under the ownership of the family.

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One of the tributes written at Charles's death reads "a thoroughly accomplished gentleman
and a humane and charitable man of high culture, of firm character, of strong artistic feeling
and energy, having a capacity of polished humour and possessed of a most warm and
generous heart" and as an early biographer noted, "Heathcote lived his life admirably . . .
and poetically. His paintings capture a peaceful moment in time and represent 'The Swan
Song of The Victorian Era', flourishing just before it disappeared", these two observations
describing the man and the artist difficult to improve upon.

In a lecture to students at Brighton in 1897, Heathcote quoted from his own publication,
"Intention In Art", with his definition of a talented artist, " . . . the man who can work such a
miracle for us is no longer a painter only. He has become preacher and prophet, poet and
philosopher".

The watercolours themselves tend to mirror the same care and attention with which Charles
lived his life. He used excellent paper and paints and nearly everything was stored in his
library in portfolios thus preventing any sun damage over the years. Most of his works were
titled and dated and then mounted on the pages of the portfolios.

The only known modern exhibition of his works was held in The United States from July 1 -
August 12, 1984 in Memphis, Tennessee, at The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, none of his
works having been shown in Britain since Peterborough, in the late 1880's and a
comprehensive catalogue was published for the exhibition in 1984 by American show's
curator, Cora S. Dobson.

As the watercolours depict so many fascinating locations throughout Europe and The Middle
East and are so beautifully painted with bright vibrant colours that continue to this day, they
are an absolute delight to behold, more than just a travelogue of places visited for one gets
the sense that each one was given the care and attention they deserved, directly
because of the importance each scene possessed in the mind of the artist.

These were not rough sketches that were to be later re-worked in the relative safety of a
studio but rather these were carefully constructed scenes, created on the spot with great
immediacy by a highly skilled artist for his own enjoyment and pleasure, enjoy the painting
and read Cuthbert Bede's "Glencreggan", the description of the journey up Kintyre's 'West
Road', in Volume 2, perhaps inspiring Heathcote's painting of Machrihanish Bay.

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The view here, from somewhere near to the main gate of "Glencreggan", looks across to
Islay, on the left and then, across the islands of Cara and Gigha, to 'The Paps of Jura'

GLENCREGGAN
Volume I at http://www.scribd.com/doc/1311818/GLENCREGGAN-Volume-1

Volume II at http://www.scribd.com/doc/1307476/GLENCREGGAN-Volume-2
.