Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton: Artist

Born Joseph Skelton in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, in 1865, the son of Thomas Simpson Skelton (c.1837-1911) and his wife Sarah Knott (c.1833- ). Thomas Skelton was originally a bookbinder and later worked as a photographer and in the photographic printing trade.

A minstrel sings of famous deeds in this illustration by Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton

The Skeltons had six children, five of them born in Newcastle upon Lyme between 1856 and 1867 (Emily Jemima (1856), William (1859), Elizabeth (1861), Joseph (1865), Thomas (1867)) and the youngest, Charles, born in Gateshead, Durham, in 1868.

There may have been a family breakdown soon after as, by 1871, Thomas, describing himself as an unmarried photographer in the census, is visiting in Gateshead. Sarah, a ‘photographer’s wife’, is living with her mother in Corbridge, Northumberland, although it is possible that this is an error on the census.

By 1881, Thomas and his family were living in South Mimms, Middlesex (now part of Hertfordshire); Thomas was married for a second time in 1886, to Hannah Shephard.

His son, Joseph, can be found in census records visiting William & Hannah Cox in Scarborough in 1871 and boarding in East Shilton, Leicester, with Henry Reynolds Steer, in 1881. Steer (1858-1928) was also an artist of landscapes, portraits and historical subjects and was elected to the RI.

Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton’s main period of activity was from 1888, mainly as a watercolour artist but also as an illustrator, contributing to The Bystander, The Graphic, The Illustrated London News and The Sketch, as well as producing book illustrations for T. C. & E. C. Jack, for whom he illustrated Scotland’s Story by H. E. Marshall (1906, with others), Our Empire Story by H. E. Marshall (1908, erroneously credited to John R. Skelton), Outposts of Empire by John Lang (1908), The Child’s English Literature (1909, erroneously credited to John R. Skelton), South Africa’s Story by H. E. Marshall (1912?, with G. S. Smithard) and When They Were Children by Amy Steedman (1913, with others).

Other titles illustrated by Skelton include Not Exactly by E. M. Stooke (Bristol, J. W. Arrowsmith, 1895?), Cox’s Cough Drops by R. S. Warren Bell (Arrowsmith, 1906) and Fair Margaret by H. Rider Haggard (Hutchinson, 1909).

He exhibited at the Royal Academy, at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and at the Royal West of England Academy, where he was a member. One online source notes that, “It is possible that owing to his elevation to the peerage he gave up his profession. A follower of Alma Tadema, his work is of a similar quality.” Whilst the latter may be true, it seems unlikely that Skelton was elevated to the peerage.

It seems likely that he adopted the additional middle name to distinguish his work from engraver Joseph Skelton, F.S.A. (c.1781-1850).

Skelton was married to Violet G. Hastie in Richmond, Surrey, in 1912, and later lived at 13 St. Charles Square, North Kensington, Middlesex. He died on 6 November 1927, aged 62, leaving an estate of only £86 2s.

Many more pictures by Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.