William Roberts

“ AGNEW, Sir WILLIAM, first baronet (1825–1910) , art dealer, was born at Salford on 20 Oct. 1825. The family derive from the Sheuhan branch of Agnew of Lochnaw. William's grandfather, John Agnew (1751–94) of Culhorn, migrated to Liverpool. His father, Thomas Agnew (1794-1871) , who in boyhood studied drawing and modelling there, became a partner in 1816 of Vittore Zanetti, a dealer in clocks and opticians' wares, of Market Street Lane, Manchester. The firm soon took up picture dealing. ”

“ Educated at the Rev. J. H. Smithson's Swedenborgian school, Salford, William and his younger brother Thomas (1827-1883) , who adhered through life to their father's Swedenborgian faith, early joined their father's business, which rapidly developed under their control. They were partners from 1850, when the firm took the style of Thomas Agnew & Sons. ”

“ At the same time he actively engaged in studying and collecting Egyptian antiquities. In 1886 he described a portion of his collection in the 'Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology' (of which he was elected member in 1884, vice-president in 1901) ; a large selection from his collection was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1895, and two years later he published an elaborate Catalogue of his Egyptian antiquities, which was followed in 1908 by a supplement. In 1905 he was elected president of the Egypt Exploration Fund (which he joined in 1885) . ”

“ Establishing branches in London (first at Waterloo Place and from 1876 at Old Bond Street) , as well as in Liverpool, they had the chief share in the formation during the middle period of the century of the great art collections in the north of England and the Midlands–the Mendel, Gillott, and many others. ”

“ An ardent educationalist, he helped to found in 1863 the Manchester Education Aid Society. He advocated temperance and free trade, and was deeply interested in the British and Foreign Bible Society. A liberal contributor to party funds, he refused a baronetcy offered him by Lord Rosebery in 1895. At the time of his death he was head of the firm of Taylor, Garnett & Co., newspaper proprietors, senior partner of W. Evans & Co., proprietors of the 'Manchester Evening News,' and a director of the Buenos Ayres Great Southern Railway Co. ”

“ Deeply identifying himself with the organisation of his party, he was one of the founders of the National Liberal Club, London, and was president of the Manchester Reform Club (where his portrait appears in the gallery of past presidents) , which he also assisted to start. His interest in philanthropical and other enterprises, especially at Manchester, was wide and practical. He was also a patron of music. At one tune he was fond of travelling and of yachting, and was a member of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club.
Agnew, who was created a baronet on 2 Sept. ”

“ His remarkable knowledge of the old masters of every school was acquired not through study of books but by direct examination of pictures at home and abroad. His 'eye' for a picture rarely led him into an error. He was more particularly an authority on the Dutch and Flemish schools; he claimed to have had quite 100 works of Franz Hals through his hands at prices which varied from 5l. to 100l., long before the subsequent rise in values. Van Goyen was one of the many old masters he 'discovered,' and his last important public purchase at Christie's was on 9 Dec. ”

“ From 1876 to 1887 he was busily occupied as an art critic and journalist, writing chiefly for the 'Spectator.' In 1880-1 he was also for a time art critic for 'The Times' in succession to Tom Taylor, and in that capacity roused the anger of J. M. Whistler [q.v. Suppl. II.] by his frank criticism of the artist's Venetian etchings (cf. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, p. 104) . He also angered Whistler by his ’vandalism' in re-decorating Whistler's White House, Chelsea, which he purchased for 2700l. on 18 Sept. 1879 and occupied till 1888 (Pennell, Life of Whistler, i. 258) . ”

“ From 1854 till death he was a trustee of Manchester College, a unitarian college, which had been transferred to London in 1853, and thence to Oxford in 1889. He became a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society on 22 Jan. ”

“ In 1883 he bought the Bawdsey estate near Felixstowe, extending to about 9000 acres, and spent large sums on sea defences, a spacious manor house, and an alpine garden (see Gardeners' Chronicle, 12 Dec. 1908) . He showed enterprise as an agriculturist, particularly as a cattle-breeder (see The Times, 20 Nov. 1911) . ”

“ He was called to the bar on 18 Nov. 1878. An attack of confluent small-pox injured his health, and the possession of a competence and a restless temperament disabled him from concentrating his energies. ”

“ He died at the Marlborough Galleries, Pall Mall, on 27 June 1908, and was buried hi the family grave at Highgate. He bequeathed a number of pictures to the National Gallery (The Times, 15 July 1908, and Connoisseur, October 1908, pp. 126-7) , and, subject to his widow's life interest, left the whole of the residue of his fortune, amounting to about 80,000l., to the trustees of the National Gallery for the purchase of pictures, annually or otherwise, at their discretion, such pictures to be grouped and known as the Martin Colnaghi Bequest (The Times, 5 Aug. 1908) . ”

“ In his will he is described as of Pall Mall and Arkley Cottage, Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire.
He was married three times: (1) to Sarah Nash; (2) to Elizabeth Maxwell Howard, who died in 1888; (3) in 1889 to Amy, daughter of George Smith, the artist, but left no children. ”

“ His portrait by Sir Hubert von Herkomer was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890 ; a caricature by 'Lib’ (Prosperi) appeared in 'Vanity Fair' on 9 Feb. 1889.
[The Times, 20 Nov. 1911 ; Burke's Peerage, 1911 ; Who's Who, 1909 ; personal knowledge; information kindly supplied by Mr. A. J. Grout, Sir Cuthbert's private secretary.] ”

“ Excavations at home and abroad had a great fascination for Price. He took a leading part in the excavation of the Roman villa at Brading in the Isle of Wight, the remains of which were by his exertions kept open to the public for some time, and on which, in conjunction with Mr. ”