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Arthur (Robert William Arthur Rouse) Was the second son and born in 1867 at 26 James St in Kennington. I believe he was named after his parents older brothers namely Robert and William. Arthur was a gifted child and became well known as a landscape painter and etcher to the extent that he made a comfortable living out of it. His artistic career began in 1882 at the age of 15 when he started exhibiting some of his works at principal London galleries. He started exhibiting his paintings at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1883 at age of 16 and in 1889 was elected a member of that Society. He married Susanna Mary Sanderson from Lambeth in Wandsworth in 1890. She was 27 and he was 23. Susanna was a potter and a painter of pottery and worked for Henry Doulton at his pottery in Lambeth. Her potters monogram “S.S” can be seen on Doulton pieces from the time. Doulton supported the School of Arts in Lambeth and it was probably through these arty connections that they met. At the time of their wedding they were living at 64 Mallinson Rd Battersea. Their first child Kathleen (called by her second name Muriel) was born in Beddington in Croydon in 1892. Sometime during the early 1890’s Arthur went over to France to visit his friend and prominent artist James McNeil Whistler. Whistler was the President of the Royal Society from 1886-1888 but left England to return to Paris in 1892. In 1894 Arthur and family were living in Merton, London not far from Tooting (ref photo holding Muriel kept with John Boon). A painting of one Merton view was dated 1895. In June 1896 Arthur travelled from Southampton to New York on a ship called the “St Paul”. It is not known what the purpose of the visit there was. He was back in England before 1898 as witness a sketch done of Yarmouth Roads, Great Yarmouth then. They had another daughter, Miriam in 1899 (always called ‘Pip’ after the way she copied the sound of motorcars) who was born in Brixton. Surprisingly in 1901, Arthur and his family were living at 12 Rockstone Place at Newtown on the Isle of Wight. Arthur was painting there and earning enough to support the family plus a servant. In the 1911 census he described his profession as a ‘service artist’. He, Susanna and the two girls were then living at 80 Helix Rd Brixton.

Arthur visited Egypt and the Holy Land in 1918 as shown by some signed and dated scenes from there at that time. He also visited Morocco, Tunis and Algiers at some stage of his life once again capturing the scenery with his paintings and sketches.

After 1927 at age 60, he left London to retire with Susannah at Worminghall Rd, Oakley near Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire. He continued to paint regularly but mainly in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire areas.

His eldest daughter Muriel married Frank Kay in Lambeth in 1914. Frank Kay was a catholic and after the marriage she converted to Catholicism. This plus the fact that the Kay side were from wealthy stock possibly created a little bit of a rift between the Rouse and Kay families. His youngest daughter Miriam (Pip) married an Australian from Sydney by the name Sidney Haslam in Lambeth in 1921. They spent many years together travelling the world and living in places such as Persia, America and the Ord River in Australia’s Northern Territory. They finally returned to England to settle down and have a family in the 1930’s. Susanna got chronic rheumatoid arthritis very badly in older age and this may have been caused by her pottery background. Susanna’s died at Oakley in 1945 at the age of 82. Arthur moved to a home in Oxford to live after Susanna died and because this was closer to where his daughter Pip and her family lived. Arthur died fairly suddenly in 1951 from a cerebral thrombosis aged 84. In 1963, Pip and her family migrated to Sydney Australia, whilst Muriel lived out her days at Lewes in Sussex.

Arthurt also did illustrations for books. Amongst the most notable were:

Thomas Gray: Elegy in a Country Churchyard (Aldine House: two editions in 1898, one each in 1899, 1900 and 1901) “Wildlife in the Hampshire Highlands” by George Dewar and published by JM Dent & Co in 1899 “A Picturesque History of Yorkshire” Vol 1 by J.S.Fletcher and first published by JM Dent & Co in 1899. “The Idler out of Doors” by Walter Raymond and published by Grant Richards in 1901 “The Glamour of the Earth” by George Dewar and published by George Allen 1904 “A Month in Elba” by Isabella. M. Anderton “Everyday Japan” by Arthur Lloyd and published by Cassell & Co 1909 “The Nature Book” Vol 2 published by Cassell & Co 1909 “Lonely Furrow” by Maud Diver published by Houghton Miflin & Co 1923 (Dust jacket) “The heaven-kissed hill” by J Fletcher published by (Dust jacket)

Exhibits by RWA Rouse 45 at the Royal Academy 64 at the Royal Society of British Artists 15 at the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool 13 at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters 6 at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour 6 at the Royal Hibernian Academy 2 at the Manchester City Art Gallery 1 at the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts 3 at the Royal Scottish Academy