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Thomas Cooper Gotch was an original member the Newlyn colony of artists, the group that made such an impact on the late Victorian art world in England. He was a close and life-long friend of Henry Scott Tuke and Stanhope Forbes. He married fellow artist Caroline Burland Yates. From the mid 1880s, he was a leading figure amongst the young artists who attempted to resist the hegemony of London’s Royal Academy of Art, being a founder member and secretary of the New English Art Club. With William Ayerst Ingram he was a founder member of the Anglo Australian Society of Artists, which later became the Royal British Colonial Society of Artists, and he became its second president in 1912. He was in advance of his times in embracing an ideal of imperial unity in art and his ideas were revolutionary enough at the time for Tom’s more protectionist fellow artists to make sure that he was not elected to the Royal Academy.
Born into a successful, non-conformist family who were part of the entrepreneurial middle class of Victorian England, Tom’s life was shattered at the age of three when his father was made bankrupt. The family moved from Kettering to London to live in Clapham with relatives. Tom’s early education was at Mr Foy’s Academy for Boys in Chelsea until his father paid off his debts and was able to return to Kettering where Tom attended the grammar school. Tom was initially destined for a career in the family business, which was the Boot and Shoe trade, and he worked in that business for three years before he was allowed to go to art school.
Tom was an art student from 1876-1883, studying at Heatherley’s Art School, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Antwerp, the Slade School of Art and Laurens’ atelier in Paris. Tom’s group of student friends contained many of the most important artists of early 20th Century British Art and many (like Henry Scott Tuke and George Jacomb Hood) were to remain his friends and collaborators until their death. While still a student Tom married Caroline Burland Yates, a fellow artist and their only child Phyllis was born in France in 1882. His most important works as a student were his etchings, many of which survive and two oil paintings, ‘Monseigneur Love’ (1880) and ‘Under a Spell’ (1881). *
 On ending his student days, Tom spent time in Newlyn and he visited Australia, but most of his energy was directed towards the politics of art in London. This was one of the most turbulent periods in British Art when young artists, influenced by European art movements, were challenging the hegemony of the British art establishment. Tom was closely involved with the RBA when James McNeal Whistler was the president. He was a founder member and secretary to the New English Art Club, which was set up in opposition to the Royal Academy. At this time Tom’s painting moved away from the depiction of literary subjects of which ‘Destiny’ (1885/6) was the most important example, towards what might be termed the Newlyn style of painting which included paintings such as ‘Mental Arithmetic’ (1883) and ‘Hiding from Granny’ (1883).
In 1887 Tom moved to Newlyn where he had already got strong ties with the local artists’ community, having spent considerable time there since his first visit in 1879. For over ten years he was counted as one of the Newlyn colony of artists, exhibiting typical Newlyn paintings. He was a pivotal member of the group, playing a central role in all the activities including the social activities such as acting and singing in dramatic performances, playing cricket, and throwing parties. He also helped to promote the well being of local youth through his contribution to the foundation of the Newlyn Industrial Classes alongside J. D. McKenzie and he was instrumental in the foundation of the Newlyn Art Gallery, designing part of the copper plaque on the front of the building and serving on its committee throughout his life.
In the late 1880s and early 1890s the Newlyn style was subjected to widespread criticism. Many Newlyn artists including Tom Gotch sought to diversify their style. At the time of a visit to Italy, TCG adopted a symbolist approach, which depicted realistic portraits of women and children in contexts symbolising idealistic interpretations of their roles. Paintings included ‘My Crown And Sceptre’ (1891/2), ‘The Child Enthroned’ (1893/4) and ‘Alleluia’ (1895/6).**
 By 1900, daughter Phyllis was coming of age and TCG’s attention moved towards London, where artistic careers were enhanced more easily than in Newlyn. In 1900 he had the house Penwith built at Shottermill, probably choosing the location because of his family association with the Whympers. At this time he painted a number of important paintings in his symbolist style including ‘Holy Motherhood’ (1901) and ‘The Message’ (1903). He also illustrated two books, one about Brittany and the other about Wiltshire.
Phyllis, the Gotches only daughter was becoming established in her career as a writer and singer during the years at Penwith. In 1906 The Gotches sold Penwith and began to look for a home in Newlyn, settling there permanently in 1908. By this time Tom’s painting was moving towards the depiction of pageants and night scenes, such as ‘The Return From The Pageant’ (1907). By this time the Gotches had moved into their new house Wheal Betsy. Tom was at the peak of his career in terms of the major retrospective of his work shown that year in London and Newcastle.
In Newlyn there was a new upcoming set of artists headed by John ‘Lamorna’ Birch and including Alfred Munnings, Laura and Harold Knight, and other artists who made their home in Lamorna. Their lively daughter Phyllis drew Tom and Caroline into this group although they also remained close to their old friends Stanhope Forbes and his wife Elizabeth who was to die in 1913.
In 1912 the Gotches visited South Africa, where Phyllis was in trouble after an unsuccessful tour with a vaudeville act. Tom’s visit was supported by the Royal British Colonial Society of Art, for which he became president in 1912. Back home after seeing that Phyllis was safely married, there was little time before the war broke out and he and Caroline threw their energy into war work.
 Tom Gotch’s paintings became less popular after the war although he continued to paint in the variety of styles that he had used earlier. His last Newlyn style paintings were probably ‘An Interior’ (1909) depicting a woman on a window seat peeling potatoes, and the more portrait-like ‘It is an Ancient Mariner (1925). His symbolist painting ‘The Mother Enthroned’ was started in 1912 but not finished until 1919; ‘Crossing the Bar’ (1923) was a procession of girls; Madonna of the Mount’ (1925) took up the theme of mother and child; ‘The Nymph’ (1927) was reminiscent of his earlier literary subject matter; and ‘The Birthday’ (1930) was another night scene with lanterns.
During the latter part of his life Tom Gotch painted numerous landscapes and delightful flower pictures, many in watercolour, having become a member of the Royal Institute of Watercolour Painter. He also continued to paint portraits as he had done throughout his life. He was a very fine portrait painter, one of the first being the magnificent full length ‘Portrait of Madam Gotch’ (1881/2) that was hung in the Paris Salon while he was still a student in France.
Tom Gotch died in 1931 while he was in London for the hanging day at the Royal Academy where his picture, The Footstep, a three-quarter-length study of a young woman, was hung on the line.
Pamela Lomax
* See: A Long Engagement 1878 – 1881, Pamela Lomax, Shears & Hogg Publications, 2002. Price £5.95. ISBN 0-9540249-1-5
** See: A Winter in Florence 1891 – 1892, Pamela Lomax, Shears & Hogg Publications, May 2001. Price £4.95. ISBN 0-9540249-0-7
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