Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints
Photographs

We are indebted to the Liverpool Medical Institution Library for its contribution to establishing H.O. Thomas’s iconography.

Paintings, drawings, sculptures and printsback to top

Self-portrait

mid- to late 1880s
Pen and ink caricature, half-length, playing drum and pipes, at top centre of group of musicians, decorating letter relating to Liverpool Medical & Literary Society; [1] untraced. Repr. Watson 1934b, facing p.39.


By other artist

c.1854–7
Oil on canvas by unidentified artist, half-length to right, standing in front of a red curtain, facing, thin beard, left hand on book; Liverpool Medical Institution, Orthopaedic L. Painted while at Edinburgh U. Medical School, 1854–7.

1880s
Oil on canvas by Hermann Fleury; see NPG 3167.

Oil on canvas by Hermann Fleury, three-quarter-length, seated in armchair, legs crossed, cigarette in left hand, looking to right; RCS England, London, RCSSC/P 216. Based on a photograph probably by Fleury (see below, ‘Photographs, 1880s, pose (2)(a)’).
The main portrait of Thomas.


Undated portrait
Watercolour drawing by Hermann Fleury, head-and-shoulders to right, looking downwards, wearing spectacles; untraced. [2] Based on a photograph, probably by Fleury (see below, ‘Photographs, c.1870s’); see NPG 3167 for Fleury active as an artist and a photographer. Repr. Le Vay 1956, frontispiece.


Posthumous portraits

publ. 1951
Watercolour caricature by unidentified artist, whole-length, standing, full-face (no spectacles), holding a cigarette in clasped hands; untraced. Repr. as an advertisement for Anadin tablets, Nov. 1951 (leaflet Liverpool Medical Institution L.).

20th century
Pen and ink caricature signed ‘Rick’, based on photograph by unidentified photographer (see below, ‘Photographs, 1880s, pose (2)(c)’); Liverpool Medical Institution L.

Photographsback to top

All photographs listed as being held in Liverpool Medical Institution L. are to be found in H.O. Thomas album, HOT 4/15, except where noted otherwise.

late 1860s
Photograph by unidentified photographer, half-length, profile to right, no spectacles, dark hair, moustache and beard; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
A rare early photograph.

c.1870s
Carte-de-visite by Henry Keet, Liverpool, head, three-quarters to right; Liverpool Medical Institution L.

Photographs by unidentified photographer, still dark bearded, two known poses:
(a) half-length, head to right, standing behind demonstration table (with tablecloth) on which lies a boy; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(b) similar to (a), but with head turned to left, seated assistant/observer at left; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
Both poses repr. Le Vay 1956, pl.12, captioned ‘Thomas demonstrating concealed flexion of the left hip-joint’.

Photograph by unidentified photographer, whole-length, head to left, standing behind demonstration table (no tablecloth) on which lies a boy, an assistant/observer partly visible at right; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
Apparently a different photographic session from above, but with the same boy.

Photograph by unidentified photographer, whole-length standing to right, facing, with boy standing with one leg on chair; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
A different occasion from the preceding (Thomas wearing different clothes) with a different boy patient.

Photograph by unidentified photographer, oval format, three-quarter-length seated to right, hands folded on lap; Liverpool Medical Institution L. The photographer is probably Hermann Fleury; for a watercolour by Fleury based on this photograph, see above, ‘Paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints, By other artists, Undated portraits’.

1880s
Cabinet cards by Mowl & Morrison, Liverpool, three known poses:
(a) three-quarter-length standing, spectacles, right hand on hip; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(b) head-and-shoulders, head to right, spectacles, oval format; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(c) head-and-shoulders facing, no spectacles; Liverpool Medical Institution L.

Photographs by Hermann Fleury, at Thomas’s surgery, 11 Nelson Street, Liverpool, ten known poses in two sets: [3]
(1) wearing black frock coat with double row of flat buttons, beard now greyish, seven known poses:
(a) three-quarter-length seated on upholstered chair, looking to right, spectacles, no cap, hands on thighs, book on left knee; also head-and-shoulders detail, signed by Thomas; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
Engr. after photograph (head-and-shoulders detail); Science Photo L., London, C016/6299.
(b) head-and-shoulders facing, wearing cap, six buttons visible; Liverpool Medical Institution L.; another copy, framed, Liverpool Medical Institution L. (not in H.O. Thomas album). Repr. Le Vay 1956, facing p.33.
(c) head-and-shoulders looking slightly to right; Liverpool Medical Institution L. Repr. Watson 1934b., facing p.76.
(d) head-and-shoulders facing; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(e) head-and-shoulders looking to right; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(f) head-and-shoulders facing, no spectacles; Liverpool Medical Institution L. Without spectacles, his injured left eye is clearly visible. [4]
(g) head-and-shoulders looking to right, no spectacles; Liverpool Medical Institution L. Repr. Le Vay 1956, facing p.132.

(2) wearing thick coat with velvet collar, three known poses:
(a) three-quarter-length seated on upholstered armchair, legs crossed, cigarette in left hand, looking to right; Liverpool Medical Institution L. Repr. Watson 1934a, frontispiece; and Shepherd 1979, pl.40. This photograph is the basis of Fleury’s portrait of Thomas held by RCS England (see above, ‘Paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints, 1880s’).
(b) same pose as above but looking ahead, right hand resting on lap, silver cigarette case in right pocket more visible; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(c) three-quarter-length standing, full-face, smoking cigarette, wearing cap and gauntlets, right hand on hip, left hand on chairback; Liverpool Medical Institution L.[5] Repr. Watson 1930 (see Wellcome Images L0018018); Aitken 1935, frontispiece; and Carter 1991, p.1580. This photograph is the basis of both NPG 3167 and the caricature by ‘Rick’ (see above, Paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints, By other artists, Posthumous portraits, 20th century’)
The most famous photograph of Thomas.

Photographs by unidentified photographer(s), wearing short jacket, cap and spectacles, and smoking cigarette, with others demonstrating medical techniques, five known poses, possibly different dates:
(a) whole-length, with his nephew Robert Jones[6] and one other man, manipulating a man’s shoulder; Liverpool Medical Institution L. Repr. Watson 1934b, facing p.64; and Shepherd 1979, pl.41.
Pen and ink drawing by unidentified artist after photograph; untraced. Repr. Le Vay 1956, p.46.
(b) whole-length, with Robert Jones and two other men, bandaging a man’s shoulder; Liverpool Medical Institution L. Repr. Carter 1991, p.1578.
Engraving by ‘F’ after photograph; untraced. Repr. Le Vay 1956, p.109.
(c) whole-length, with Robert Jones and five others, manipulating a man’s shoulder; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
Pen and ink drawing by unidentified artist after photograph; untraced. Repr. Le Vay 1956, p.45.
(d) whole-length profile to left, manipulating a man’s shoulder; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
Engraving by ‘F’ after photograph; untraced. Repr. Le Vay 1956, p.108.
(e) whole-length, no cap or cigarette, manipulating a man’s leg; Liverpool Medical Institution L.

late 1880s
Photographs by unidentified photographer, facial hair now whiter, wearing thick overcoat, six known poses:
(a) bust to right, head facing, wearing cap and spectacles; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(b) bust three-quarters to right, no cap; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(c) bust three-quarters to left, no cap; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(d) whole-length standing to right, wearing cap and smoking, right elbow on chairback, facing Robert Jones; Liverpool Medical Institution L. Repr. Shepherd 1979, pl.47.
(e) three-quarter-length seated to left, bare-headed, reading a letter, Robert Jones standing at left; Liverpool Medical Institution L.
(f) three-quarter-length standing, looking to left, wearing cap and smoking, Robert Jones seated at left; untraced. Repr. Watson 1935, facing p.74.


Footnotes
1) The Liverpool Medical & Literary Society existed between 1884 and 1934.
2) The watercolour hung in the dining room of the Liverpool Medical Institution in 2003; information from NPG Notes on Institutions (Liverpool Medical Institution).
3) Attribution of these portraits to Fleury was suggested by C. Blackett-Ord, Aug. 2015.
4) A childhood injury left Thomas with an ectropion (droopy lower lid) on his left eye.
5) ‘To his contemporaries … the spectacle of H.O. Thomas was one of the sights of the town. His diminutive figure tightly enclosed in an elaborate coat, his “second mate’s discharge” hat (as seamen called it) pulled down over one eye, his tremendous gauntlet gloves, his cigarette then quite a curiosity in itself. … If his strange clothes and peculiarities are examined it will be seen that they were all rational enough. He wore a cap with a peak to protect an injured eye from the light, he wore no collar and buttoned up his great-coat to shield his weak throat, while gauntlet gloves warded off the cold wind from his delicate arms’ (Watson 1934a, pp.78–9).
6) (Sir) Robert Jones joined his uncle as a medical apprentice in 1873, and became his assistant after qualifying in 1878. After Thomas’s death he inherited the Nelson Street practice.


Carol Blackett-Ord