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One of our Founder Members, he displayed a tremendous interest and zest when the matter of forming a new Society was being mooted, and might well be described as the driving force in those days. As a boy he had lived in Bristol and attended Dame`s School where he had studied art under Henry Stacy, also a Founder Member, who was Art Master there. This was around 1866 7. Some time after this he left Bristol and our records show that he came back from Liverpool in 1903. By this time he was quite a successful artist and as this was his sole means of support. he was probably a very good salesman. In fact, when he was asked by his fellow¬ artists for the secret of his success, he replied that he never started a new picture until he had sold the last. Thus it would seem that he was the most businesslike of those early members and being younger than most of them naturally was full of enthusiasm. He no doubt saw the benefits that might be obtained from such a Society, especially if they held Exhibitions. Also, when he reappeared on the scene in 1903, it can be safely assumed that he had lost personal contact with most of the local artists and such a Society would quickly bring him into that circle, but he had one very close link, for he had married Ernest Ehler’s sister and it is not unreasonable to assume that he discussed the matter at great length, not only in the Kingsdown Studio but also at Ernest Ehler’s house. It is on record that he gave full rein to his ardour at the Inaugural Meeting in February of the following year. It would appear that he did not meet with quite the same success in Bristol. He had no studio of his own and was using one in West Park, kindly loaned him by his old friend Henry Stacy. He attributed this loss of sales to the fact that his clients probably shunned the thought of negotiating the hills up to West Park. So, he looked around for premises in the City and in March the same year obtained a lease on rooms at 39 Corn Street over Gibb’s gunshop, He immediately placed these rooms at the disposal of the Tribe as temporary headquarters. and they held their first meeting there on March 9th. Colston Waite describes these premises and his unpunctuality etc., in his Story of the Bristol Savages. Their stay there was of short duration, for that same year the Tribe rented accommodation at the Royal Hotel and held their first Session there on November 2nd. There is no evidence of any regular activity on his part in the Wigwam but he did make his contribution to the Bongie Folio in 1908. Also, as was the custom of those early members, he presented the Tribe with one of his framed works (I0/230). It is known that he left Bristol and went to live in London, but there is no record of the exact date. But, since he did not contribute to the Wilfred Peake Folio in 1914, it has to be assumed that it was between those two dates. No further information is to be found concerning him until 1925 when it appears that the Committee sold some of his pictures for £15 probably in the Exhibition of that year. By then he had seemingly fallen on very hard times, for it would appear that some months earlier the Tribe had unofficially raised a fund to alleviate his distress. This had been administered by Brother Savage Richard Castle who wrote to say that, having paid him £1 per week for eighteen weeks, the fund was now running low. He also stated that George was living in a basement in Kensington and that ill¬ health was preventing him from painting, which was his sole means of support. Apparently his health must have improved for, although he was about seventy-two years old, he went to Canada where he died in British Columbia in 1933. As he was at school in 1866, he was probably about eighty years of age when he died. The only other reference to him occurs in 1938. His widow presented the Tribe with a very valuable Old Bristol Glass vase in his memory, something he had greatly cherished and which had belonged to his grandfather. Its present whereabouts are not known. (Cecil Broome)
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