Arthur E. Grimshaw

ARTHUR EDMUND GRIMSHAW 1868 – Leeds - 1913 Arthur Grimshaw was the eldest child of John Atkinson and Frances Theodosia Grimshaw and like several of his siblings, inherited his father’s artistic talent. Atkinson taught his children painting and was anxious for them all to join his profession. Though Arthur had great skill, his main passion and vocation was music, which explains the relatively small number of paintings by him dating between 1890-1900. Jane Abdy writes, ‘he ran away from home at the age of seventeen to join an orchestra, and two years later became organist of St Anne’s Church, Leeds, a post he held until his death.’ Though Abdy suggests Arthur was later reconciled with his parents, more recently, Jane Sellars writes of Atkinson: ‘He could never quite forgive Arthur for choosing music above painting, although Enid was not quite so maligned for her choice of singing as a career. Louis became a painter and so did Elaine.’ Arthur is recorded as the first Organist and Master of the Choristers of Leeds Cathedral, appointed in 1883 at the age of eighteen and remaining in the post for thirty years. He also wrote and published compositions including a string quartet, a symphony, English folk melodies, and several songs including ‘Twilight time’ and ‘Cradle song,’ as well as arranging orchestral pieces by Mr Edward German for the pianoforte at the composer’s request. Local newspaper articles reveal he lectured on Debussy at the Yorkshire Branch of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. Arthur’s numerous roles in the cultural life of Leeds at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century were frequently noted in the local press when he went missing just before his death in 1913. Arthur Grimshaw’s The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1895, is in the collection of the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.