He was a Member of the Royal Academy. The picture is a self-portrait. Much information about this sculptor can be found on his , on the and on the .
Charles Leonard Hartwell was born on 1 August 1873 in Blackheath, Kent (now Greater London), the fifth of the six children of Richard Pine Hartwell (1838-1893) and Rose Clarke Hartwell née Lukey (1839-1903). His birth was registered in 3rd quarter of 1873 in the Greenwich Registration District, Kent (now Greater London). On 23 August 1873 he was baptised at St John the Evangelist Church, Blackheath, where the baptismal register confirms his date of birth, that the family were residing in Woodlands Road, Blackheath and that his father was a butcher.
His five siblings were: Richard Francis Hartwell (1869-1935); Rose Mary Hartwell (1869-1941); Jesse Pine Hartwell (1871-1871); Florence Hartwell (1872-1961) and Mabel Conquest Hartwell (1876-1876).
In the 1881 census he is shown as Charles Hartwell, aged 7 years, living at 4 Langton Terrace, Greenwich, (later renamed as Delacourt Road), with his parents, two siblings: Rose Mary Hartwell and Florence Hartwell, together with a journeyman butcher and a female domestic servant. His father was listed as a butcher.
When the 1891 census was undertaken he was again described as Charles Hartwell, aged 17 years, a stone carver and sculptor, still residing at 4 Langton Terrace, Greenwich, with his parents and three siblings: Richard Francis Hartwell, who was now calling himself Frank Hartwell and who was a butcher's assistant; Rose Mary Hartwell and Florence Hartwell. His father was still shown as a butcher.
Shown as Charles L. Hartwell, aged 27 years and a sculptor on the 1901 census, he was living at 8 Manville Road, Balham, London, with his widowed mother who was described as living on her own means, his two sisters: Rose Mary Hartwell and Florence Hartwell, together with a female domestic general servant.
On 30 March 1904 he married Nellie Mary Woodhams (1876-1964) in Holy Trinity Church, Upper Tooting, London, where in the marriage register he is shown as aged 30 years, a bachelor and sculptor, residing at 41 Louisville Road, Tooting Bec, London, whilst his wife was described as aged 27 years and spinster, living at 139 Beechcroft Road, Upper Tooting, the daughter of the late Henry Woodhams, a clerk.
Electoral registers from 1906 to 1911 list him at 26 Marney Road, Clapham Common, London and in 1914 at 19 Ritherdon Road, Balham, London.
He was shown in the 1911 census as aged 36 years and a sculptor, staying with his wife and his sister-in-law, Lilian Woodhams (1875-1957), in a ten roomed boarding house at 5 Westcliffe Parade, Westcliffe-on-Sea, Essex.
Telephone directories from 1917 to 1934 list him at 62 Acacia Road, London, NW8 and from 1934 to 1950 at Boyne Cottage, Aldwick, Sussex (now West Sussex).
In the 1939 England and Wales Register he is shown as an artist living at Boyne Cottage, Barrack Lane, Aldwick, Sussex (now West Sussex), with his wife and a Miss Ellen M Schofield (b.1862) a retired school mistress.
Probate records confirm that his address remained as Boyne Cottage and that he died, aged 77 years, on 12 January 1951, his death being registered in the 1st quarter of 1951 in the Chichester Registration District, Sussex. Probate was granted on 6 April 1951 to The Westminster Bank Ltd and his effects totalled £24,925-11s-7d.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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