Henry Gosse, having given up the idea of farming in Canada,
decided to travel south, writing: “My eye is set towards Georgia or South
Carolina, as I understand persons of education are in demand there, both in
mercantile and academical situations.” 1 By 26th March 1838, Henry
had reached Philadelphia:
It was in Philadelphia that he
first enjoyed the sympathy and help of genuine men of science. At the museum in
Chestnut Street, he met Mr Titian R. Peale, a local zoological artist of
considerable eminence, who charmed him at once, and surprised him by his
deferential civility and his instinctive recognition of this grim-featured,
unknown youth [Henry was weeks away from his 28th birthday] as one destined to
be “somebody”. Mr Peale was just then starting as the artist of an exploring
exhibition to the South Seas, under Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, and he was
particularly interested in the exquisite drawings of insects which Philip [Henry]
Gosse had brought from Canada. 1
Titian Peale was ten years older than Henry and he was the
youngest son of Charles Willson Peale, the founder of the original Peale
Museum. Titian inherited his father’s love of both Natural History and painting
and his passion was for butterflies and moths, thus his interest in Henry’s
drawings (Titian's collection of Lepidoptera was subsequently donated to the Academy
of Natural Sciences and can be seen today). 2 During the
conversations between Henry and Titian about Natural History, there is likely
to have been reference to the visit to the Peale Museum of another Englishman,
Charles Waterton, fourteen years before. This is part of Charles’ account of
that visit:
When you go to Philadelphia, be
sure not to forget to visit the Museum. It will afford you a great treat. Some
of Mr [Charles Willson] Peale’s family are constantly in it, and are ever ready
to show the curiosities to strangers, and to give them every necessary
information. Mr Peale has now passed his eightieth year, and appears to possess
the vivacity, and I may almost add, the activity of youth. To the indefatigable
exertions of this gentleman, is the western world indebted for the possession
of this splendid Museum. Mr Peale is, moreover, an excellent artist. 3
Like Henry Gosse, Charles Waterton had been a keen observer
of the natural world since boyhood, but this common interest was one of the few
similarities between the two men. Interestingly, the lives of both were
dominated by their religious beliefs: for Henry Gosse, his complete trust in
the literal truth of The Bible; for Charles Waterton, his Catholic faith and
profound respect for the teachings of Jesuits. Although both men were writers, and
could convey what they saw to readers with enthusiasm, they had different practical
skills. Henry was a gifted artist and illustrator, while Charles perfected his
own method of taxidermy, a subject that was of interest to Titian Peale who
also practised in this field.
Having researched and written about the life of Henry Gosse,
4 it seemed natural for me to visit “Sandhurst”, his home in Torquay
from 1857-1888. Of course, it had changed substantially, but I still felt something
of the spirit of the man around the main building there. As I am currently
writing about Charles Waterton, I decided to visit his home, Walton Hall, now
part of the Waterton Park Hotel in Yorkshire. Better than that, I was able to
stay in the Hall itself and it was easy to imagine its rather grand staircase
with cases containing various preserved animals fixed to the outside of the
banister rail. It was also easy to imagine Charles Waterton and his ascetic
life here, sleeping with open windows at all times of year and not in a bed but
on the floor, with a block for a pillow. Fortunately, the Hall is no longer
infested with "Hanoverian rats", as it was in Charles' day.
Walton Hall
The staircase at Walton Hall
There is much too much to Charles Waterton for a single blog
post, for he was a most interesting man and a free sprit, being given a chapter
of his own in Edith Sitwell’s The English
Eccentrics. 5 One aspect of the man, however, can be mentioned
and that was his pioneering interest in conservation. He had a high wall built
around the Walton Hall estate, which then became a refuge for wild animals,
free from intruding humans and other predators. It is said that Charles knew all
the trees on the estate and, as he was an avid tree climber, this was not only
from ground level. He took delight in seeing animals moving about freely and
safely and, like many conservationists, he also enhanced areas to be especially
favourable to some bird and mammal species. When he was not travelling, Charles
spent much of his time watching the comings and goings and he was an excellent and
patient field naturalist.
Part of the wall surrounding Walton Hall estate
Unfortunately, the estate became polluted by effluent and
toxic fumes from a nearby soap works and Charles fought court battles to have it
closed down, finally offering the works owner a financial inducement to
re-locate to a site some distance away. This allowed the estate to recover from
the worst of the effects of the pollutants and, lest one think it was all a
private obsession, it should be pointed out that Charles allowed access to
local people and welcomed visitors who shared his passions.
Walton Hall estate today
Much of the Walton Hall estate is now a golf course and many
of the trees have been cut down as a result. The Hall itself is not only a
hotel but a popular wedding venue and I wonder how many people that visit are
aware of the remarkable man who lived there in the nineteenth century?
There are several biographies of Charles Waterton, one of them, ironically,
being by Philip Gosse, 6 the grandson of Henry Gosse and the son of
Edmund. A further irony is that Charles Waterton also had an only child whom he
named Edmund and, in another parallel to Edmund Gosse, was quite different to
his father in almost every way, although they shared a strong Catholic faith. Edmund
Gosse went on to become an Establishment figure, without his father’s
unshakeable evangelical Christian faith, while Edmund Waterton liked luxury,
the trappings of privilege and the gaudier aspects of Roman Catholic ceremony
and power. In the end, his expensive way of life meant that Walton Hall had to be sold
and, to add yet another level of irony, the purchaser was Edward Simpson, the
eldest son of the owner of the original soap works with whom Charles had fought
the legal battles. 7
It is unfortunate that we only have one good likeness of
Charles Waterton, although there are numerous descriptions of his habits and
appearance. This likeness hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London and
was painted by Charles Willson Peale during Charles Waterton’s visit to
Philadelphia in 1824. Having looked closely at this picture, I find it captures
what I know of the man and also of his passion for taxidermy and Natural
History. Like Henry Gosse, he was a remarkable character and perhaps not as
eccentric as Edith Sitwell 5 would have us believe.
1 Edmund Gosse (1896) The Naturalist of the Sea-Shore: The Life of Philip Henry Gosse.
London, William Heinemann.
3 Charles Waterton (1973) Wanderings in South America, the North-West of the United States, and
the Antilles, in the years 1812, 1816, 1820 and 1824 with original instructions
for the perfect preservation of birds and for cabinets of natural history.
London, Oxford University Press.
4 Roger S Wotton (2012) Walking with Gosse: Natural History, Creation and Religious Conflicts.
Southampton, Clio Publishing.
5 Edith Sitwell (1933) English Eccentrics. London, Faber and Faber.
6 Philip Gosse (1940) The Squire of Walton Hall: The Life of Charles Waterton. London,
Cassell.
7Julia Blackburn (1989) Charles Waterton 1782-1865: Traveller and Conservationist. London,
The Bodley Head.
P.S. Just to demonstrate
Charles Willson Peale's love of art and artists, Titian had three
brothers named Raphaelle, Rembrandt and Rubens. There were 16 children
altogether.
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