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| The Dampier Children, 1845, Private Collection |
When one thinks of occupations in 19th century rural Canada, artist is not an obvious choice. Despite this, Robert Reginald Whale, who emigrated from England to Canada West (Ontario) in 1852, was a prolific painter who was able to support himself and his family through the sale of his artwork.
Robert was born in Altarnun, Cornwall, on the edge of Bodmin Moor, and was baptised at St Nonna's Church in Altarnun on 20 Mar 1805. He was the sixth of seven children of Christopher Whale (1763-1838) and Grace Burnard (1767-1830). Christopher was a tenant farmer at either Higher or Lower Tregunnon at the time of Robert's birth.
Robert demonstrated a talent for drawing and painting at an early age. According to his obituary in the Brantford Weekly Expositor, his first commission was at the age of eleven. A few years later, when Albany Saville (1783-1831) hired Robert's older brother John to paint rooms at Oaklands near Okehampton, Devon, Robert accompanied his brother and was given permission to copy works from Saville's collection which included portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792).
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| Bessie Limbrey Whale (1837-1862) Vancouver Art Galley |
In 1836, Robert married Ellen Heard (1837-1862) of Bideford, Devon. After their marriage, Robert and Ellen lived in Bideford. Their first child, Bessie Limbrey Whale was born in 1838, followed by Mary in 1841, and Ellen in 1843. Robert and Ellen had a total of ten children, Their two youngest were born in Canada. Robert Heard Whale, born in 1859, was named after his brother Robert Heard Whale who had died in Bideford in 1844.
Ellen's ancestry is a bit of a mystery. In the Whale Family fonds at the National Gallery of Canada is a sextant belonging to Ellen's purported father, William Heard, a mariner who transported emigrants to Quebec. Ellen's baptism at Bideford on 12 Jun 1816, however, shows that she was the base child of Mary Heard, daughter of John Heard (1749-1816) and Elizabeth Limbrey (1752-1830). Was Ellen Heard's father a mariner named William Heard? It is interesting to note that Ellen's marriage to Robert was witnessed by Mary's brother Thomas Sams Heard (1791-1869), and that Bessie Whale's middle name was Limbrey.
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| John Lucius Dampier (1793-1853) Truro City Council |
In 1846 the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society awarded Robert a silver medal for one of his landscapes which contained, "excellencies of no ordinary degree." Also exhibited was a portrait of a group of children. This may have been the portrait of a brother and two sisters admiring a watercolour that was painted in 1845 for John Lucius Dampier (1793-1853) and sold at auction by Christie's in 2011. Portrayed is Dampier's children: William Thomas (1829-1904), Jane (1837-1905), and Emily (1838-1920). Dampier was a barrister and Vice-Warden of the Stannaries of Cornwall. A portrait of Dampier held by Truro City Council is unsigned but was most likely painted by Robert.
Other early patrons were Welsh industrialist and Member of Parliament John Henry Vivian (1785-1855), and his brother Lieutenant General Sir Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian (1775-1842). Hussey Vivian had served with distinction during the Peninsula Wars and had commanded the 6th Calvary Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo.
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| Ellen Whale (1841-1908) Private collection |
The exception was their daughter Mary who had been baptised at Luxulyan, Cornwall. Robert and his young family had briefly lived in Luxulyan, the home of Sir John Colman Rashleigh (1772-1847), 1st Baronet of Prideaux House. Sir John, an advocate for parliamentary reform during the 1820s, had been an early patron of Robert’s and is thought to have sponsored his trips to London to develop his artistic talent by copying works in private collections and at the National Gallery.
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| John Constable The Cornfield, 1826 National Gallery |
In the spring of 1852, Robert and his family left England for the Province of Canada. His decision to leave was no doubt influenced by his brother John who
several years earlier had emigrated with his family to Canada and
had settled in Burford near Brantford.
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| View of Hamilton, 1862, Art Gallery of Hamilton |
Bideford in the early 1850s was the main port of departure for emigrants from North Devon. The North Devon Journal announced the sailing of two ships for Quebec in April 1852. The barques Secret and Worthy of Devon were both owned by timber merchant Richard Heard (1790-1872), who may have been a distant relative of Ellen's:
EMIGRATION.—We are happy in being able to announce that the tide of emigration is not likely to abate this year as far as Bideford is concerned. The labouring classes are flocking by scores to secure their berths, and a full complement of passengers is expected, both for that fine old ship the 'Secret' and her younger sister in the trade, the 'Worthy of Devon.' Already the 'Secret' has made a move, having been hauled out from her berth, and is now lying abreast of the quay, presenting her broadside to the High-street, and smilingly welcomes the Sons of Hope on board, to tread her decks once more on her passage over the broad Atlantic.
The departure of the Secret "with a fair wind" on the evening of April 5th was noted in the North Devon Journal. On Thursday, April 22nd the Journal reported: "the Worthy of Devon went over the bar on Tuesday evening last, with the hearty wishes of all assembled for their future prosperity."
In May, the Journal announced the arrival of the Secret at Quebec:
Good News for the Friends and Relatives of Emigrants.—It will be very gratifying to the friends of those who emigrated in the Barque 'Secret,' from Bideford, to learn that that favourite ship has had a most prosperous and speedy passage to Quebec, at which place she arrived on the 6th of May, and landed all her passengers in good health and excellent spirits, who expressed themselves very highly pleased with the ship and commander. She made the passage out in an almost incredibly short time; and but for the ice she would have reached Quebec in 21 days after she Bideford.
A month, the Journal reported the safe arrival of the Worthy of Devon at Quebec: "The whole of the passengers expressed themselves much pleases with their find ship and the kindness of the commander. They experienced much stormy weather during the voyage, but all went on well on board, and the voyage terminated without any accident to any of the passengers."
Robert made his home in Burford near his brother, becoming one of the first professional artists to work in rural Canada. Robert and Ellen's second youngest, Charles Christopher Whale, was born shortly after their arrival. 1852 also saw the death of his son, William Bartlett Whale who had been born in Bideford the previous year.
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| Charlotte Whale (1845-1875) Private collection |
Robert and Ellen had made the undoubtedly difficult decision to leave one of their children behind in England. Occasionally, when a family emigrated from England, a sickly child would be left behind in the care of friends or relatives. This is likely what happened with Charlotte Richards Whale.
Charlotte was born in Bideford on 19 Mar 1845 and was baptised there in May 1851. She does not appear with the family in the 1851 Census but is listed as a visitor in the household of George and Mary Richards in Bideford.
The 1861 Census shows 16-year-old Charlotte Whale as a visitor in the household of George and Mary Richards. In 1866, Charlotte married Thomas Martin Murphy. Murphy died two years later and in 1870 Charlotte married Frederick Hill. The 1871 Census shows Charlotte and Frederick living in Bideford. With them is Mary Richards. Charlotte died in Bideford on 20 Jan 1875 and was buried there on 25 Jan 1875.
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| View of Hamilton, 1853 National Gallery of Canada |
In 1862, Robert won a silver medal for one of three landscapes sent to the International Exhibition in London, England. A few years later he created a multi-panel panorama of the 1857 Indian Mutiny that was shown throughout Canada West. Each of the twenty oil on canvas panels measured eight feet by six feet. Illuminated by oil lamps, and accompanied by music and a narrator, the "Great Panorama of the Mutiny in India" drew crowds wherever it was shown. Admission was 15 cents for adults and 10 cents for children.
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| The Canada Southern Railway at Niagara, Glenhyrst Gallery |
Robert painted numerous views of Niagara Falls. Several
of these paintings depict a steam engine and coaches passing in front of
the falls, and have a distinct "folk art" quality to them. Many of these landscapes were hurriedly produced, then copied and sold to tourists who had arrived by train to visit the falls. Some are almost identical such as The Canada Southern Railway at Niagara and The Michigan Central Railway at Niagara where the only significant difference is the lettering on the coaches.
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| William Hamilton Merritt 1793-1862 St. Catharines Museum |
A number of writers have attributed a portrait of Dr. Charles Duncombe to Robert, however, this is problematic as Duncombe, a leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion, fled to the United States in December 1837 and never returned.
Robert was a charter member of the Ontario Society of Artists founded in 1872. At the Society's first exhibition in 1873, he won first prize for "Portrait of a Lady." In 1881, Robert became an Associate Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and contributed works to their exhibitions until 1886.
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| John Hicks Whale (1829-1905) National Gallery of Canada |
In the summer of 1870 Robert visited England and was reunited with his daughter Charlotte. His nephew and son-in-law John Hicks Whale (1829-1905) wrote to his wife Mary that her father wore himself out painting portraits and almost neglected to visit his sisters.
After Ellen's death from cancer in 1871. Robert went back to England and remained there until September 1876. On his return to Canada he lived with his nephew and daughter in Brantford until his death on July 1, 1887. Robert was buried at the Congregational Cemetery in Burford.
Two of Robert's children, John Claude Whale (1849-1905) and Robert Heard Whale (1859-1909) were also artists, as was his nephew John Hicks Whale. Robert Heard Whale studied at the Royal Academy in London, and at the Academie
Julien in Paris under Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and William-Adolphe Bouguereau. After the death of his father he emigrated to Capetown, South Africa.
Robert's paintings can be found at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Museum London, the Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the McCord Museum, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. The largest collection is at the Glenhyrst Gallery in Brantford.
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| Gravestone at Burford Congregational Cemetery |
Beatty, Linda Belshaw. "Whale, Robert." Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. 11. University of Toronto/Université Laval. 1982. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/whale_robert_11E.html
Harper, J. Russell. "A Study of Art at the Upper Canada Provincial Exhibitions: Ontario Painters, 1846-1867." National Gallery of Canada Bulletin, Vol. 1 (May 1963).
Lefler, Ruth. "Whale of an Artist," The Brantford Expositor, March 29, 2019.
National Gallery of Canada. Robert Whale Family fonds.
"Obituary," The Brantford Daily Expositor, July 8, 1887.
Robinson, Mel. "Burford's First Movies," Burford Times, February 15, 1995, p. 13. https://images.ourontario.ca/brant/2350886/image/1060640
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