Briton Riviere RA MA Oxon (1840 - 1920)

Born 14 Aug 1840 in Marylebone, London, England

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Alice (Dobell) Riviere — married 1867 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England

Died 1920 at about age 79 in Hampstead Registration District, London, England

Biography

Daniel's Answer to the King, 1890

Briton Riviere was well known for his paintings of animals, and exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy.

Briton Riviere RA MA Oxon is Notable.

Briton Riviere was born in 1840 to William Riviere and Ann (Jarvis) Riviere in Marylebone, London, England. He was baptised on 5 September 1840 at St Marylebone, Westminster, Middlesex, England.^[1] He makes his first appearance on the 1841 census with his parents and three older sisters, living at Bath Place in St Pancras, Middlesex, England. Briton is only nine months old; his father is listed as an artist, and the family has two servants. ^[2] In that same year, G S Harcourt and J S Iredell founded the Cheltenham College, which Briton was to attend when he grew older, and where his father William was the drawing-master. The family moved from London to Gloucestershire, living at Shurdington Road, Leckhampton. ^[3] Briton's initial training as an artist came from his father and his uncle, watercolourist Henry Parsons Riviere.

Briton began exhibiting his work in the 1850s. He first showed at the British Institution (a private society exhibiting works from connoisseurs and the nobility), then at the Royal Academy in 1857. He appears on the 1861 census, still living at home with his parents and one sister, now at The Terrace, St Giles, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. ^[4] Briton is listed, as his father, an "Artist of Painting".

Sympathy, 1878

Briton continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy every year from 1863, but by 1865 he had turned to his main love - animal portraiture.

I have always been a great lover of dogs but I have worked at them so much that I've grown tired of having them about me. However, you can never paint a dog unless you are fond of it. I never work from a dog without the assistance of a man who is well acquainted with animals ... Collies, I think, are the most restless dogs ...greyhounds are also very restless, and so are fox terriers ... The only way to paint wild animals is to gradually accumulate a large number of studies and a great knowledge of the animal itself, before you can paint its picture ... I paint from dead animals as well as from live ones. I have had the body of a fine lioness in my studio ... I have done a great deal of work in the dissecting rooms at the Zoological Gardens from time to time. ^[5]

He met and married Mary Alice Dobell in 1867 - she also exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1869-70. ^[6] The couple went on to have seven children: Hugh Goldwin 1869 (who became a portrait painter), Millicent A 1870, Clive 1873, Philip L 1875, Evelyn (male) 1876, Theodora 1878, and Bernard B 1880.

The couple (plus their first two children, who were born in Bromley, Kent) appear on the 1871 census in Kensington Town, London. The household also employs two nurses and a general servant. ^[7] Briton is listed as "artist painter".

The King Drinks, 1881

Briton was elected a Royal Academician in 1881, and his household reflects his success and the growth of his children. On the 1881 census there is now a live-in governess, while Briton himself is listed as M A Oxon A R A Painter (Artist). The family has moved to Finchley Road, Hampstead, London; Hampstead is known for its intellectual and artistic associations, and is an expensive place to live. ^[8]

Requiescat, 1888

The family is still living on Finchley Road, Hampstead on the 1891 census, but Briton is now grandly listed as 'Royal Academician Painter'. His son, Hugh, is a 'Student of Art'. Briton now has six servants: a parlourmaid, a housemaid, an underhousemaid, a needlewoman and a dressmaker. ^[9] Briton receives the degree of Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford in 1891.

With the departure of three of the children, the 1901 census shows the family as having 'only' five servants: a cook, a parlourmaid, a sewing maid, a housemand, and an underhousemaid. Briton's son Clive is a doctor (physician), Evelyn is a barrister, and Bernard is a medical student. Briton is still an 'R A Artist', but written in pencil next to this is 'sculp'. ^[10]

By the 1911 census (the last one Briton was to see), all the children have moved away, and only Evelyn's small daughter, Diana, remains. However, there are still six servants: a housemaid, an underhousemaid, a maid, a cook, a parlourmaid, and a nurse. ^[11]

Briton died in 1920 in Hampstead, London. He was 79. ^[12]

Sources

1. ↑ London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: p89/tri/013 [mistranscribed as Baiton Riviere]
2. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1841," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQJF-69T : 22 May 2019), Briton Riviere in household of Willm Riviere, St Pancras, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom; from "1841 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
3. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGKK-4TR : 9 November 2019), Briton Riviere in household of William Riviere, Leckhampton, Gloucestershire, England; citing Leckhampton, Gloucestershire, England, p. 29, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
4. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1861," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M723-TPP : 26 August 2020), Briton Rivere in household of William Rivere, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1861 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 9, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
5. ↑ "How I paint animals", Chums Boys Annual, No. 256, Vol. V, 4 August 1897
6. ↑ England & Wales marriage registration: Cheltenham [district], Volume 6a, Page 731, September quarter 1867, Britton RIVIERE and Mary Alice DOBELL
7. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1871", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBX6-3PC : 25 April 2019), Briton Riviere, 1871.
8. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1881," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q273-LRFQ : 10 December 2017), Briton Riviere, Hampstead, London,Middlesex, England; from "1881 England, Scotland and Wales Census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing p. 63, Piece/Folio 173/111, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey; FHL microfilm 101,774,350.
9. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:35JK-4PZ : 1 May 2019), Briton Rivere, Hampstead, London, England, United Kingdom; from "1891 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 12, London county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
10. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9CY-53K : 20 May 2019), Briton Riviere, Hampstead, London, England, United Kingdom; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing Hampstead subdistrict, PRO RG 13, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
11. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWLV-BXK : 1 August 2019), Briton Riviere, Hampstead, London, England, United Kingdom; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
12. ↑ England & Wales death registration: Hampstead [district], Volume 1a, Page 640, June quarter 1920

See Also:

• Wikipedia:Briton_Rivière
• Reynolds, Simon: "Riviere, Briton" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography requires UK public library membership
• Paintings by Rivière are held by public institutions including the Tate, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Royal Holloway, University of London and Chrysler Museum of Art.

Acknowledgments

• Riviere-15 created through the import of Jan 's Feb12 gedcom.ged on Feb 8, 2012 by Alfred Dearnley.

See the Changes page for the details of edits by Alfred and others.