There were 33 members of the Group during the eight years that they exhibited annually at Alex. Reid & Lefevre at 1a, King Street in Mayfair. Of that number, unfortunately, we have little or no biographical details of ten of them so, perforce, this page is limited in its scope, which is a great shame but my hope is that, one day, I may be able to rectify that situation as more information may come to light. The names of interest are as follows:-

Arthur J Wetherly: Patrick Murphy: Hannah Cohen: J C King: Eunice Veitch

Maurice M Shaer: F C Spelling: C Spelling: B Nelson Parker: G M McCarthy

If, by chance, you might recognise any of these names as being a relative or if you might have come across anything which you think might be relevant, please drop me a line via the “Contact Us” button below.

Walter James Steggles. 15/08/1908 to 05/03/1997 

Wally, as he was generally known, was born in Highbury north London: he was the eldest of five children born to Annie Elizabeth and Walter Steggles.  His early years were spent at various addresses in London but during WW1 the family lived for a while in Bath whilst Walter senior was serving with the Royal Flying Corps in Northern France.  Around 1920 the family moved back to Ilford where Wally finished his schooling.  Aged fourteen he successfully applied for a job with Furness Withy & Co and he worked for them until he retired. 

In  May 1925 Wally joined the art classes at the Bethnal Green Men’s Institute at Wolverley Street along with his younger brother Harold, later transferring their allegiances to the Bow and Bromley Evening Institute when their tutor, John Cooper moved there from Bethnal Green in 1926.   Wally exhibited in the East London Art Club’s exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1928.  The East London Group, as it became known then transferred to the Alex. Reid and Lefevre gallery in November 1929 and Wally went on to exhibit at all eight shows that the Group held there up until 1936. 

Like several other members of the Group Wally exhibited widely in mixed shows from as early as 1929 and continued to do so up to and into World War Two.  His crowning glory came in 1936 when he and fellow Group member Elwin Hawthorne were selected to represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale that year.  It was a great recognition of his talent in such a prestigious international arena but one which, in later life, he chose not to mention! Wally continued to paint almost up until his death in 1997: by his own admission, he couldn’t stop!

Albert Edward Turpin (as described by his daughter, Joan Barker)

Living with an artist conjures up visions of attics and someone wanting to be away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life in order to put one’s thoughts on canvas. That would be the ideal but for my Dad living in a two bedroom council flat in Bethnal Green there were no luxuries of space.

The flat was made up of 2 bedrooms, a scullery that consisted of a cooker, butler sink with draining board, cooker and small cupboard. This was also where we washed and Dad shaved etc.   The kitchen had a fireplace with oven above it and the room was used for all other activities. Mum had to prepare our meals there and do all the cooking as there were no tops in the scullery. Like most families we had a table (which doubled up as a ping pong table when pulled out). Also there was a small bathroom and toilet, but he felt we lived in luxury compared to what others had, and also bearing in mind where the family lived previously.

His painting was done in the Kitchen using the light from the window. He started work as a window cleaner very early every morning, leaving home before light and he returned home early in the afternoon to give himself time to paint. He also went out with his rucksack which contained a collapsible easel and seat, plus his paints and he would just set himself up and paint away. This often took place on Sunday mornings and I would sometimes go with him. The time spent waiting while he sketched or painted would very often be interspersed with a series of history lessons about the East End,  his family history and his life and work in Bethnal Green as a left wing agitator.   Every week we would go to the library where he would only take out factual books or poetry.    His overriding philosophy in life was that we should never be ashamed of where we come from. This meant for him; fighting injustice; a strict code of morality and using his art to show the poverty and conditions that existed in the slum areas.  Of course, that art could also be used to showcase the glorious little bits of gardens and flower boxes, the Pubs, Churches and Music Halls that could brighten an otherwise dull day.   Wherever he was, he carried a sketch book and on the front page would be a quote from or about an artist.   On some drawings he would quote poetry to emphasise a point.  These sketch books went to council meetings, old time dancing (which he took up later in life), holidays and whilst working, but the thing I remember most is that Mum and I were constantly being sketched.   Me with my legs hanging over the furniture reading, or doing homework, Mum either cooking, having her feet soaking in water, or just having forty winks. We got so used to it that we didn’t even notice, and it is only now looking back at his sketch books that memories flood back.

I would say his painting, politics and love of the East End were inseparable. He loved people who frequently called for advice and a chat. He absolutely adored my mother and it was certainly a lifelong love affair. He had a brilliant sense of humour which would often mean laughing at himself. He was a big man with a big laugh who loved life in his beloved Bethnal Green.

Brynhild Parker 10/02/1907 to 28/05/1987 

Brynhild or Bryn as she was more commonly known was born in Letchworth in Hertfordshire, the eldest of three sisters.  Her family background was reasonably “comfortable” and her Father’s artistic associations meant that she was exposed to a creative environment whilst growing up.  Harold Gillman lived in the house next door and fellow Camden Town Group member William Ratcliffe was a friend of Stanley Parker, Bryn’s father and he also lived in Letchworth, on and off, for forty years. 

On completion of her schooling in Letchworth Bryn then attended The Slade School of Fine Art in 1925 where she gained a series of prizes before achieving her diploma in 1928.  She did not attend the evening classes with John Cooper but she was invited to exhibit in the Group’s touring exhibition at Mere Hall, Bolton in 1930 having previously exhibited alongside Group members at the Young Painters’ Society show earlier that year.  She exhibited at the second Group show at Alex. Reid and Lefevre in December 1930 and would contribute to all Group shows thereafter up until 1936.  In 1935 and again in 1938 Lefevre hosted solo exhibitions for her: the former showing 22 pictures and the latter 40.  Her work sold well and she moved in social and artistic circles that were unfamiliar to many of her ELG colleagues. 

Throughout her career she seems to have had a great affection for France as she depicted several French subjects in her work that was exhibited at the Group shows.  After a period of teaching art at Letchworth Grammar School during the forties and following the death of both her mother and aunt in 1949 Bryn took the plunge and moved to France, settling in Antibes where she met Pierre Gastaud.  The pair became members of the vibrant art scene on the Côte d’Azur centred around Pablo Picasso and she exhibited in many shows alongside him. Through her uncle, Barry Parker, Bryn had connections to Helford in Cornwall where he had built a house.   She would paint there whilst on holiday in England and often saw her fellow Group member and life-long friend, Ruth Collet (nee Salaman): the pair maintained in correspondence until very shortly before Bryn died in 1987.

Archibald Hattemore 09/06/1890 to 12/07/1949 

Archibald was born in Bethnal Green, one of four sons for Frederick and Rebecca Hattemore.  Little is known of Arch’s childhood but in the census in 1911 he is described as a tea dealer whilst his father and brothers are described as wood carvers.   At some point thereafter it appears as if his father and brother Sidney set up a shoe repair business in Wick Road in Bethnal Green and when Arch enlisted in April 1915 he described himself as a boot repair man.  He joined 172 Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery, also known as the West Ham Brigade.  Arch served on the Western Front with his Brigade continually from November 1915 until September 1918 when got home leave but he returned to active service thereafter and was demobilised in June 1919.  In 1918 Arch’s background caught up with him when he was appointed Brigade shoe maker! 

In 1920 Arch married Ada Luscombe and in due course they had three daughters.  Arch found work as a navvy for the Metropolitan Water Board and his long-standing interest in painting and drawing brought him to the Bethnal Green Men’s Institute art classes under the tutelage of John Cooper who encouraged him to enter a piece called “Interior” for the New English Art Club exhibition in 1926 where it was bought by Sir Joseph Duveen.  At the East London Art Club exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1928 Arch contributed a very impressive 14 pictures out of the total of 184: his most impressive piece being “The Dead Flamingo” which was one of two of his paintings to be shown at the small Group exhibition at the National Gallery, Millbank in early 1929 where it was subsequently acquired for the national collection and it resides at the Astley Cheetham gallery in Tameside along with Arch’s “Interior”. 

Arch exhibited at the first four East London Group exhibitions at Alex. Reid and Lefevre from 1929 to 1932.  A change in employment as a flooring estimator for fellow Group member and Chairman, Murroe Fitzgerald’s Acme Flooring Company meant that the time that Arch could dedicate to his painting dwindled to nought as he was often working late into the evenings and week-ends.  In later life he was to regret the fact that he hadn’t continued to exhibit, despite the fact that he did return to painting.

Lilian Leahy 05/12/1909 to 30/10/1996 

Lilian was born in Holborn in 1909: she had two sisters and a brother.  Her Father was an Irishman from County Clare and her Mother came from Foxham in Wiltshire.  Leaving school at 14 Lilian found work in a range of different environments but all seemingly having an artistic thread running through them, so she had jobs variously as a window-dresser, decorating china, tiles, glass-ware and scent bottles.  She was fortunate in always finding work.  In her spare time in Bow she took part in several musical productions in Poplar Town Hall in 1926 and 1927 with dancing roles in the chorus and as a soloist.  At about this time she first started to attend the art classes at the Bow and Bromley Evening Commercial Institute under the tutelage of John Cooper. 

Lilian exhibited at the East London Art Club exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1928 and then annually with the East London Group at Alex. Reid and Lefevre from 1929 to 1936. Unusually for an artist, she was left-handed.  Lilian was not a prolific contributor to Group shows but she did exhibit in all of them: usually a landscape or a rural view of a church or farmhouse.  She would accompany her husband to be, Elwin and Walter and Harold Steggles on their painting trips to locations in Essex, Kent and Sussex.  Alongside her interest in painting Lilian was a keen knitter and craft person and, having knitted pieces for Elsie Farleigh and Phyllis Bray (amongst others) she turned down the opportunity to knit a piece for John Cooper’s friend J B Priestley’s wife, Jane as she felt she had no time to do it as she was too busy with her other interests! 

Lilian married fellow Group member Elwin Hawthorne in March 1937 and they set up home in Manor Park.  During the war she remained in London apart from a while spent with her cousin in Chippenham and she had a daughter in 1941 and a son just after the war in 1946.  She and Elwin moved to Vicarage Lane in East Ham in 1953 and with Elwin’s untimely death in 1954 she was left to bring up her children on her own.   Lilian continued to paint into later life and maintained contact with fellow Group member Walter Steggles until her death in 1996.

Henry Silk 25/12/1883 to 21/09/1948  

Henry was born in 1883 and little is known of his family life or early years.   During WW1 Henry served in the trenches, sketching or drawing on any materials that came to hand but, sadly, like so many of his contemporaries he was gassed which had a lasting effect on him when he returned to civilian life.  He was a basket-maker by trade and he worked for his uncle, Abraham Silk who had a shop at 226 Bow Road.  Henry was a bachelor and after WW1 he did not return to live with his mother but went instead to live with his sister and her family in Rounton Road, Bow where he rented one of their three bedrooms which is where many of his intimate pictures were painted.  Henry’s sister was Elwin Hawthorne’s mother!  

Henry attended the art classes in Bow with his nephew, Elwin Hawthorne, and exhibited at the Bethnal Green Men’s Institute show in 1927 and he contributed twelve pieces to the East London Art Club exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1928, three of which were then shown the National Gallery, Millbank in early 1929. He was a prolific contributor to the Group shows at Alex. Reid and Lefevre from 1929 to 1936 where his work always attracted high praise and critical acclaim.  His work was acquired for the national collection at Doncaster Museum and also the Public Art Gallery in Toledo, Ohio.  

In his day Henry was described by one art critic as potentially the most unique talent in British art at the time.  His work found many buyers like Sir Joseph Duveen and Charles Aitken at the time and he had a one man show at Walter Bull and Sanders in Cork Street in 1931.  Today his work is keenly sought after with modest sized watercolours commanding high prices: their detail and intimacy seeming to inspire affection amongst collectors far and wide. 

Harold Percy Steggles (08/02/1911 to 13/10/1971)

Harold was born in Highbury, the second son of Walter and Annie Elizabeth Steggles.  In his early life the family moved quite frequently but eventually settled in Ilford in the early 1920’s which is where Harold completed his schooling.   Aged just fourteen, Harold started work at Seaton Taylor, Solicitors, 5, Grey’s Inn Square at the end of February in 1925.  He spent his entire career with the company but sadly developed Leukaemia when he was only 55 and he died in 1971, aged just 60.

On 18th May 1925 he and his elder brother Walter enrolled at the evening art classes at Bethnal Green Men’s Institute at Wolverley Street under the tutelage of Mr O’Connor.  Harold exhibited at the East London Art Club exhibition at the Whitechapel gallery in 1928 and then in all eight annual East London Group exhibitions from 1929 until 1936 at the prestigious Alex. Reid & Lefevre Galleries at 1a King Street in Mayfair.  Harold became a leading member of the Group and his work was always highly sought after at these exhibitions.  In 1934 Jack Beddington at Shell, Mex & BP Ltd commissioned him to produce an image for the iconic Shell poster series in 1934.

After World War Two Harold’s working and family life meant that he rarely painted although in his later years he was encouraged by his daughter to take up his brushes once more as a form of therapy during his illness.  His work still remains highly sought after and his style is instantly recognisable.

John Cooper 04/07/1894 to 08/02/1943

John Cooper was born in Bolton, Lancashire but the Cooper family moved to Yorkshire when he was two years old, living variously in Scarborough, Bradford and then eventually settling in Menston-in-Wharfedale. Cooper attended art schools in Scarborough, Leeds and latterly Bradford where his studies were to be cut short by the outbreak of WW1. During the war he served in the Royal Flying Corps in a drawing office and also in France from 1916 to 1918. With his return to civilian life after the war he used his ex-serviceman's grant to help resume his artistic studies, this time under the tutelage of Henry Tonks at The Slade School of Fine Art in London, leaving in 1922.

Like many young artists of his day, Cooper augmented his income from painting by teaching art classes and this is how he came to teach initially at the Bethnal Green Men's Institute in late 1925 and then the Bow and Bromley Evening Institute from 1926/7. As a well-connected person within the art world, Cooper's drive and charisma soon attracted fellow ex-Slade students to the classes along with his good friend Walter Sickert who came to lecture the working men and women who attended up to three classes each week for two hours at a time. Through Sickert's involvement and Cooper's contacts with Sir Joseph Duveen, Sam Courtauld, JB Priestley, Arnold Bennett and others, the fledgling Group first showed at the Whitechapel gallery as the East London Art Club in 1928 to rave reviews in the national press. This led to a small show, sponsored by Aitken, Duveen and others at the National Gallery, Millbank in early 1929 which resulted in nearly a dozen paintings being acquired for the national collection.

The stage was now set for the East London Group (as it became known) to move from the Mile End Road to Mayfair and the prestigious Alex. Reid and Lefevre gallery at 1a King Street in November 1929. The show was greeted with great critical acclaim and would go on to spawn a further seven annual shows for the Group until 1936. In 1930 Cooper became a member of the London Group and in 1931 he married Phyllis Bray who was also to become a member a few years later. They had a daughter, Philippa who was born in 1934 but sadly the couple separated in 1936. With the onset of WW2 Cooper tried but failed to get work as a war artist and, with his health failing, his last few years were largely spent at the family home in Menston where he died in February 1943.

Phyllis Bray 30/08/1911 to 12/12/1991. 

Phyllis was born in Norwood: her father William de Bray was attaché to Maria Fyodorovna, mother of the murdered Russian Tsar Nicholas II.  Early on, whilst still at school in Eastbourne, Phyllis showed artistic talent and this led to her attending The Slade School of Fine Art from 1927 to 1931 where she proved to be a star student under Henry Tonks.  

She married John Cooper in the summer of 1931 having made her first contributions to East London Group exhibitions at their second show at Alex. Reid and Lefevre in December 1930 where she showed two pictures.  In common with one or two of the other Slade trained members of the Group, Phyllis periodically taught at the evening classes.  By 1933 she had joined her husband as a member of the London Group and in 1934 their daughter Philippa was born.  Sadly the couple’s happiness was relatively short-lived as they separated and divorced barely two years later. 

As a London Group member Phyllis met the German refugee, Hans Feibusch in 1933 and they went on to collaborate over nearly forty years on many mural projects the most notable of which were at Chichester Cathedral and Dudley Town Hall and numerous provincial a London churches such as St Crispin’s, Bermondsey and St Alban the Martyr, Holborn.  Phyllis had an extensive career as a muralist in her own right a highlight of which was a commission to paint three murals at the New People’s Palace on the Mile End Road.  She exhibited widely in mixed shows through the thirties and forties and was also in great demand for commercial work for companies such as John Lewis Partnership, London Transport and Shell.  Working for many publishers she also produced book cover designs and illustrations. In later life Phyllis continued to paint but her indomitable spirit was sorely tested by the onset of Parkinson’s Disease which eventually forced her to give up her work.  

Cecil Osborne 09/01/1909 to 07/04/1996 

Cecil was born in Poplar in East London.  Little is known of his childhood but by the age of 16 he was attending a commercial college but when he left in late 1928 or early 1929 jobs were hard to come by and many places where Cecil found work seemed to go out of business in common with many others at that time.  Cecil already had an interest in painting and drawing and his mother encouraged him to pursue it as a way of earning some money.  By all accounts Cecil was under no illusions as to the precarious nature of the art world in general in this regard so he set about trying to educate himself in the techniques and methods involved by reading books and visiting galleries.  It was through one of these visits that he stumbled across the East London Art Club’s exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1928 where he was immediately struck by the quality of the work on display. 

Early in 1929 Cecil took some of his work to show to the leader of the Group, John Cooper and shortly after he began attending the classes.  Cecil exhibited at the first Group show at Alex. Reid and Lefevre in 1929 and thereafter in every show up to 1936.  Through his business training at college he started helping Cooper with the correspondence for the Group and he then became treasurer and honorary secretary: a post previously held by Archibald Hattemore.  Cecil contributed about 30 pictures in total to Group shows and often exhibited outside the Group in mixed shows in London as well as the touring exhibition to Mere Hall, Bolton. 

In the early thirties Cooper became involved in a revival of mosaic work, in partnership with Sam Courtauld, and Cecil attended classes that Cooper held at the Central School of Arts and Crafts.  He also worked alongside him on mosaic commissions and designs managing the two studios that Cooper had set up in London to support the business.  In the period between 1936 and the start of WW2 Cecil exhibited with the New English Art Club and at Manchester City Art Gallery as well as in mixed shows in London.  After the war Cecil was one of the members who tried to re-start the Group along with Brynhild Parker and Walter Steggles but it was to no avail.  Like Walter Steggles, Cecil continued to paint into old age and his retirement to Spain which is where he died.

Grace Oscroft 17/07/1903 to 28/05/1970 

Grace was born in Bow where her father ran an ironmonger’s shop at 212 Bow Road.  Little is known of Grace’s childhood but it seems as if her shared interest in art with her elder brother John drew her to attend the evening classes that John Cooper taught at the Bow and Bromley Evening Institute.   John would not go on to exhibit with the Group but Grace’s artistic exhibiting career began with the East London Art Club exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1928 where she showed five pictures.  Her painting of “Garden in Bow” was shown at the small Group show at the National Gallery, Millbank in the spring of 1929 where it was acquired for the national collection on behalf of the Hepworth Gallery. 

Grace showed two pieces at the first Group exhibition at Alex. Reid and Lefevre and she continued to contribute work annually up until 1935 but she was not represented in the last Group show in 1936.  Her work often seems to have focused on her immediate surroundings in Bow with various roof-top based pictures as well as industrial scenes such as the “Iron Foundry, Bow” and “Bryant and Mays” or views of “Bow Road”.  It is also obvious from the catalogue record that Grace painted whilst on holiday: in 1931 she exhibited “Canal, Northampton” and in her last excursion with the Group in 1935 she showed “Welsh Hills” and “Cae Gwege”. 

Contemporary press reports of the day seemed to state that Grace worked in the family shop selling radio parts and bicycles but, in later life, her brother stated that this was not the case: it seems as if the story of her being a “shop girl” made good copy!  She kept house for her parents who had a house at 12, Fairfield Road in later life, and then latterly looked after her mother who suffered badly from rheumatism.  After her death Grace found work as a doctor’s housekeeper and then clerical work for various companies: her death certificate recording her occupation as a “warehouse Clerk (retired)”. She was only 61.

Ruth Collet (nee Salaman) 15/06/1909 to 15/06/2001 

Ruth was born in Barley in Hertfordshire the youngest of five surviving children.  As a child Ruth was encouraged to paint and draw by her uncle, Michel Salaman who had trained at the Slade School of Fine Art where he was a contemporary of Augustus and Gwen John amongst others.  Ruth attended Bedales School before trying for a place at the Slade.  She was accepted and studied under Henry Tonks and Philip Wilson Steer.  Whilst at the Slade, Ruth lodged with her future East London Group exhibitor, Brynhild Parker: they were to become life-long friends. 

Amongst her contemporaries at the Slade were other future ELG members like William Coldstream, C G Hamilton Dicker and Phyllis Bray.  Ruth only contributed to one East London Group exhibition which was their third show at Alex. Reid and Lefevre in December 1931 where she showed two paintings.   It transpired that Ruth was not actually asked to join the Group, which annoyed her somewhat but as she qualified as an exhibiting member after her brief appearance with them.   She married Robert (Bob) Collet in 1932 who had been a fellow student with her at Bedales, albeit slightly older than she was.   The couple moved to Paris which may explain why she had this one appearance with the Group.   Ruth continued to paint whilst in Paris but returned to London for the birth of her second daughter in 1935.  She had exhibitions in London before the war but at or shortly after it began they moved to Petersfield in Hampshire and Bob taught at Bedales whilst Ruth did likewise at a local boys’ school. 

Ruth was a member of the Hesketh, Hubbard Art Society and she exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1938, at the New English Art Club from 1944 and also with the London Group and Women's International Art Club, and at the Goupil and Leicester Galleries amongst many others.