Following on from my articles on Baxter’s 1860 retirement auction sale (Link 1 below), his travelling regional sales 1860-63 (link 2) with the associated articles about a sale poster for the sale on February 1863 (link 3) and an advertising poster for the sales in Bristol in May 1861 (link 4), I would now naturally move on to the period following his last regional sale in August 1863 in Weston Super Mare. Before I do there are some interesting aspects to consider about where Baxter was during 1862 and what was he doing? This article includes new information, but it also raises some interesting questions.

At that time I wrote about Baxter’s 1860 retirement auction sale I said that “Overall I can’t see Baxter being pleased with the result” but in hindsight, he must have been as, as per my article, he went on to hold over 41 regional sales throughout the UK that followed a very similar format to this Southgate & Barrett (S & B) auction i.e. an exhibition of his prints followed by an auction in the evening and sometimes another in the morning or afternoon for the “gentlemen of the neighbourhood, who are unable to attend in the evening” with each sale, on average, lasting about seven days. You don’t continue for over 3 years with a format that isn’t working.

The regional sales started just one month after that S & B sale and carried on regularly until August 1863. In that article I raised the question – “Did Baxter attend these sales” at that time I concluded that there is some good degree of proof that he did attend at least some of them, but did he attend them all?
So where was George Baxter in 1862? – A rhetorical question. The simple answer is that he should have been living at the Retreat in Sydenham with his family, still running his printing works at 12 Northampton Square and attending the International Exhibition of that year, but this new information infers that this wasn’t the case.

On 23rd May 1860, the last day of Baxter’s S & B auction of his plates, plant and prints, a Mr Holland purchased all the plant for £1,000 as well as 22 of Baxter plates. Included, with the plant, was the option of “the lease for the premises”.

Presumably there were two leases, one for No 11 Northampton Square, which would have commenced in 1844, and another for No 12 from 1851, were they both included in the sale? We do not know an exact date when Baxter left No 11 but we do know No 12 is the only address used by Baxter in the handbook of the 1862 exhibition, his republication advertising of 1864 and during his Bankruptcy in 1865.

From 1860 onwards it is well documented that Baxter had a vast stock of prints in hand. The S & B sale advertised “upwards of 100,000 of these beautiful productions will be sold”. Just one month later, at the very start of the regional sales, he again advertised that upwards of 100,000 prints were available and this claim continued until late 1863 when he started to state the remainder of 300,000 prints.

All this proves that the last thing he wanted was still to be printing a high volume of prints, because of this his workshop output would now have greatly reduced and perhaps he only retained a handful of employees. He would have had to still print some of the more popular subjects, to keep the stock ‘balanced’, as he continued with around 250 – 300 days of auctions, some with 2 auctions per day, over the next 3 years.

He only published one new print during this period, the Large First Impressions which we find first mentioned in the poster for the sale at Brompton in February 1863. As the only new print issued since 1860 I feel this was most probably nearly ready for publication by 1860, or possibly even some years earlier, but then only finally completed sometime between May 1861 and February 1863. Why would he produce any completely new work when he was trying to dispose of the vast stock he had?

It was during this period that he printed his sepia versions of some his long out of print Coronation and Missionary subjects, something that could easily be handled by his now slimmed down print works having to print just from the steel plate with no colour blocks.

Evidence confirms that he must have sublet part of the building firstly to a Mr Henry Holland to use as a private residence or office and then later to a Mr Box.

Clarke in his 1920/1 book ‘Baxter Colour Prints’ says that the Mr Holland who was the high bidder for the plant and lease etc at the May 1860 S & B sale was Samuel Holland who he describes as an engraver and copperplate printer of 52 Spencer Street Clerkenwell. I can find this person as an ‘engraver to the trade’ at that address in ‘The Goldsmiths’, Jewellers, Silversmiths’, Watchmakers, Opticians and Cutlers Directory for 1863 but no mention of him as a printer, perhaps he had two sides to the business?

It was thought for many years that the buyers of the plates at the S & B auction took advantage of their extended credit scheme for periods of up to a year but then never paid because we know Baxter had the plates in subsequent years. However we now know that the plates were never actually taken by their ‘buyers’ at the auction as that just 3 days after the end of the auction sale ‘The Bookseller’ of 26th May 1860 said the stock had “realised excellent prices” and then states “Mr Baxter is still the possessor of the plates and blocks from which the pictures are produced but, we believe, is desirous of disposing of the property”.
From this we can safely assume that Samuel Holland did not take possession of the plates but presumably also not the plant and by default the lease as Baxter still had his plant etc for a number of years after. It seems inconceivable that Baxter would have sold his plant, presses etc when he had retained the plates.

Now the new information: Interestingly I have found a Mr H Holland, shown as a director of The General Credit Company Ltd, at Baxter’s address of 12 Northampton Square in ‘The Clerkenwell News’ of 5th March 1862. The General Credit Company Ltd was a substantial banking firm established in 1856 so Holland must have been using this address as a private residence or office. Henry and Samuel Holland, is that a coincidence or were they related?

In the ‘North London News’ of May 26th 1866 I find H Holland, still listed as a director of the same company, but now, with an address, two doors down at 14 Northampton Square. It turns out that this is the address of the wholesale silversmith Henry Holland & Son, also listed there in the Post Office Directory for 1862. They were silver spoon and fork manufacturers, a business that was established circa 1838 and listed in the same ‘ The Goldsmiths’, Jewellers, Silversmiths’, … Directory for 1863 as Samuel Holland, again is that a coincidence?

Perhaps Henry Holland secured the rental of No 12 or at least the knowledge that it was available via his possible relative Mr Samuel Holland.

No 12 was a substantial three storey building, the same size as No 11 which Baxter had moved into in 1844 and as far as we know Baxter had operated his business as well as housed his family in the same building until he extended into No 12 five years later. So it seems reasonable that No 12 could have still accommodated Baxter’s slimmed down business and have rented out the residential part separately to Henry Holland.

The sub-let of No 12 is further confirmed in ‘The Gospel Herald’ for 1862 which states that a John Box Esq “upwards of thirty years the gratuitous secretary to the Aged Pilgrim’s Friend Society” dies “at his residence 12 Northampton Square London” on 21st November 1862.

So it does seem that Baxter did rent out part of the building to Mr Henry Holland, possibly a relative of Samuel but definitely associated by trade, and then later to Mr Box.

Now let’s look at Baxter and the International Exhibition of 1862. The Exhibition ran from 1st May to 1st November 1862. ‘The Bookseller’ of May 31st 1862 lists exhibitors including their stand numbers and one is:

“Baxter G 12 Northampton Square (5205) pictures printed in oil colours”

These details would have most likely have been taken from the official exhibition catalogue. ‘The Handbook to the Industrial Department of the International Exhibition 1862’ by Robert Hunt again lists Baxter as exhibiting and also gives brief details of Baxter’s process but looking at the wording and style it appears to be from the 1862 equivalent of a ‘press release’. The problem with these references is that they appear to be taken from an official catalogue which would have been prepared or at least collated sometime before the event.

All these references seem to show that Baxter expected to be at the exhibition but did he actually attend? One review in ‘The Illustrated London News’ for 17th Sept 1862 actually ‘talks’ you around the stands and states “In the nicely arranged show of Mr Dickes, commendable in many respects, some beautiful specimens are exhibited, printed by machinery thus following the steps and experience of others. We regret not seeing a display by Mr G Baxter to whose energies the public have been much indebted”.

So did Baxter attend the 1862 Exhibition? After booking his place, which he would have done many months before, did he decide that his time would be better spent attending his regional sales?
We know of at least seven of his sales during the period of the Exhibition. Was he too busy to attend or in hindsight felt his time could be better spent elsewhere?

Conclusion:
It seems safe to assume that in 1862 Baxter was still at No 12 Northampton Square but had rented out part of the property.

Baxter, must have now been working with a slimmed down print works and, with his family all resident at The Retreat in Sydenham, he rented out part of the building firstly to Henry Holland who may be related personally, or at least by trade, to Samuel Holland the high-bidder for the plant and lease in 1860, and then afterwards to Mr Box, stated as dying at the address in November 1862.

Most of the mentions of Baxter attending the 1862 exhibition seem to have been taken from the official exhibitors catalogue which would have been prepared some months before it opened and the only physical in depth review states he categorically wasn’t there. On balance, I feel that he didn’t attend the exhibition most probably to spend more time with his regional sales.

The original question was “So where was George Baxter in 1862?” or more generally over the 1860 – 63 period.

Some of the adverts for the regional sales stated that on display will be Baxter’s painting of ‘The Baptism of Prince of Wales’ or Baxter’s “Collection of gold and silver medals which the patentee has obtained from continental sovereigns”. These items, I feel, he would not have entrusted to his employees or representatives and would have bought them to those sales himself. How many other sales did he attend? We know that he sketched Rob Roy’s Castle, about 58 miles north of Glasgow, on Oct 20th 1861, a date that sits just between his sales in Aberdeen and Glasgow. A Mr Parkinson in ‘The Baxter Times’ of June 1923 confirmed that Baxter attended the December 1860 sale in Sheffield, see link 4 below

While Mr Vincent Davis appears to have overseen virtually all of Baxter’s sales over the 3 year period, who would have been travelling the country viewing potential venues and making all the arrangements for the future sales? I feel this was a task Baxter took on himself. Mr Parkinson confirmed in his ‘Baxter Times’ article that Baxter had visited Sheffield to look for a venue and Mr Parkinson’s father had placed a poster advertising a sale in his window “as a particular favour to him”.

Can we prove he attended many of the sales? No we can’t but as a historian once told me – there is very little in history that you can prove. History is mainly based on taking all available information and using that to come to the most reasonable conclusion, that is then ‘history’ until further information comes to light.
I have come to the conclusion having studied this area of Baxter’s life for some years and looking at all the facts that on balance Baxter spent a great part of that 3 year period travelling the UK, setting up future sales and attending others where he could. In the meantime, he would take the opportunity to indulge his passion of sketching.

Some might ask about his print works back in London, who would be running that in Baxter’s absence? The answer to that leads me to his son, George Baxter Jr, now around 21 years old in 1860 he would have already been working with his father for a number of years, proficient enough to be actively involved in the Vincent Brooks printings from his father’s plates in 1865. I would have thought he would have been more than able, along with a handful of staff still retained, to maintain the printing works.

After over 30 years in business with most probably very little opportunity of taking a ‘holiday’, did Baxter and his wife think rather than just attending the odd sale that they might use this as a good reason to travel the UK mixing business with pleasure?

So what brings me to this last conclusion? In ‘The Times’ of 25th April 1862 we find a ‘To Let’ advert for Baxter’s home ‘The Retreat’ Sydenham, fully furnished at £30 per month – immediate possession, apply at the property between 2 and 6 o’clock (so Baxter was only working part time at this stage?). If they weren’t intending to be away for many months that year why would they contemplate letting out their prized property? Should you think that this is just a sign of Baxter’s long believed financial problems, something which I will disprove in future articles, £30 a month to Baxter was not a large amount of money for him at this stage. Baxter quotes in an advert of 1863 that the sales from his Newcastle sale of January 21st – 25th February 1862 amounted to in excess of £1000.

So on balance I feel Baxter spent much of his time away from home during this period, a mixture of business and pleasure whilst indulging his love of drawing. Did he attend the International Exhibition, on balance I feel not as he was too busy with regional sales and anyway why even contemplate renting out his house, just one week before the exhibition was due to start if he was planning to attend?

Next time, with a lot more definite new information I look at the period 1863 – 1864