25 Facts About George Wallis

George Wallis was an English artist, art educator, and museum curator.

George Wallis was the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection at South Kensington Museum in London.

George Wallis was born in Wolverhampton on 8 June 1811, the son of Mary and John Wallis.

George Wallis's father died early, Wallis was adopted by his grand-uncle John Worralow, a famous maker of steel jewellery at the time of George III.

George Wallis was educated at the Grammar School from 1825 to 1827 and received initial training in japanned ware painting.

George Wallis taught sisters Martha Darley Mutrie and Annie Feray Mutrie at the Manchester School of Design and later gave them both private classes.

George Wallis attended the Royal Manchester Institution; practised painting; became connected with the local Manchester industry, and it was then and there that he met the great engineer Joseph Whitworth who became his lifelong friend.

In 1837, George Wallis returned to Wolverhampton and worked for local japanners Ryton and Walton painting the centres of the tea trays.

George Wallis designed the shape of a tray which was named "Victoria" after the young queen and became very popular.

In 1841, George Wallis moved to London to join the School of Design at Somerset House where he won one of the six scholarships offered by the Board of Trade.

In two years from the time of Mr George Wallis taking the charge, the funds of the school were flourishing; the interest taken in it by the public was great, and nearly half the Institution was occupied by the pupils, while the applications for admission were more numerous than could be accommodated.

In 1845, George Wallis organised at the Manchester Royal Institution the Industrial Art Exhibition which included items made of textile, ceramics, carved wood, leather and papier-mache.

George Wallis resigned from the Manchester School of Design in 1846, as he could not agree with proposed changes in the educational programme.

George Wallis was given responsibility for reporting on textiles, metal manufacture, glass, porcelain and furniture.

Atkinson in his book on Joseph Whitworth states that George Wallis was appointed along with Whitworth particularly 'to compare side by side the military weapons of the two countries' as George Wallis was the head of the only school of rifle design in Britain and an acknowledged expert in the matter of small arms.

However, Atkinson does not provide any evidence for this in his book, and when addressing the Parliamentary Committee on Small Arms in 1854 about visits he had made to two American arms factories, George Wallis made it clear that he had never designed or studied guns, was unable to give a professional opinion upon musket making, and could only comment in general terms about his impression of the organisation of work in the factories.

George Wallis was appointed a deputy commissioner for the Great Exhibition of 1851, and he successfully acted for several manufacturing districts and the whole of Ireland.

George Wallis was then actively engaged in the British section of the Paris Universal Exhibitions of 1862 and 1867.

In 1858 George Wallis joined the South Kensington Museum as Senior Keeper of the Art collection, a post which he kept for three decades and left just prior to his death.

George Wallis actively fostered the system of circulating works of art, wrote in all the leading art periodicals, and was one of the earliest contributors to the 'Art Journal,' besides delivering a vast number of lectures on design and kindred subjects.

Rosa George Wallis was trained at Manchester Royal College of Art and in Berlin.

George Wallis became a well-established painter of flowers and landscapes, an etcher and enameller.

George Wallis travelled widely around Britain and Europe, visiting Italy, France and Austria.

George Wallis died at 21 St George's Road, Wimbledon, Surrey, on 24 October 1891, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery on 28 October.

An exhibition in memory of George Wallis was organised at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery in 1919.