George Wallis
Born 8 June 1811
Died 24 October 1891
Active: 1855 - 1857
Country of birth and death: England
Art teacher, museum curator
Born in Wolverhampton. He practised as a decorative artist at Manchester from 1832-7, but then developed an interest in art education as it applied to design for manufactures, and joined the government School of Design at Somerset House, London, in 1841. In 1850 he was appointed deputy commissioner for the eastern division of London, the northern counties of England, and the whole of Ireland for the Great Exhibition of 1851. After the close of the exhibition, he accepted the headmastership of the Birmingham School of Design. He remained there until 1858 when he joined the South Kensington Museum, where in 1863 he was appointed senior keeper of the art collections, a post he retained until just before his death. He died in Wimbledon, London.
Institutional and Business Connections
Advisor to Government School of Practical Art, Wolverhampton
1854 (Presumed) - 1855 (Presumed)
The First Annual Report of the Wolverhampton School of Practical Art (1855) (in 'Minute Book', c. 1851-1862, p. 85) notes that 'Mr. George Wallis, head master of the School of Art, Birmingham' had offered advice on how to award prizes to students of the school.
Principal of Birmingham Society of Arts and School of Design
1855 (Presumed) - 1857
Headmaster. The First Annual Report of the Wolverhampton School of Practical Art (1855) (in 'Minute Book', c. 1851) notes that Mr. George Wallis was the current head of the Birmingham School of Art.
Sources
Birmingham Society of Arts and Government School of Art, in connection with the Department of Science and Art of the Board of Trade, 4 February 1858
4 February 1858
p. 1.
Government School of Design for Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire. Minute Book, c. 1851-1862
1851 (Circa)
p. 85.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
G. C. Boase, ‘Wallis, George (1811–1891)’, rev. R. C. Denis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28570, accessed 22 March 2010]
Citing this record
'George Wallis', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1208963309, accessed 29 Sep 2023]
