Thomas Glendening

Thomas Glendening

1838-1899

Thomas Montague Glendening (1838-1899) was the oldest of three brothers born to James and Sarah Glendening at Hampton-on-Thames, near London, and after school went to work on the railways, winning gradual promotion and in 1878, he was appointed stationmaster at Bourne where he served for 14 years.

At this time, the Red Hall was used as the railway booking office with accommodation for the station master and his family and so he lived during this period at one of the grandest houses in the town where he was highly regarded. He left in May 1892 for a similar post at Muswell Hill and later Alexandra Palace in London, and his departure was marked with the presentation of a purse containing subscriptions from the nobility and leading inhabitants in appreciation of his work as station master, together with a handsome hall clock surmounted with a barometer and thermometer from station employees.

The presentations were made by the vicar, the Rev Hugh Mansfield, who referred to the efficient manner in which Mr Glendening has discharged his duties and said that it was a noteworthy fact that during his entire service at Bourne, there had been no collision or accident. Soon after retiring, he died at his home in Muswell Hill on 16th February 1899 at the age of 63. He had been an amateur but talented artist and critics of his work suggested that he might have won fame in that quarter had he pursued painting as a career. His widow, Mrs Emma Glendening, died on 14th December 1923 at Porlock Road, Bush Hill Park, North London, at the age of 86.

Mr Glendening's younger brother was Alfred Augustus Glendening (1840-1910), an artist of some note who exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1865 and whose paintings sold well commercially, several surviving in private ownership.

Thomas Glendening married twice. His first wife, Martha, died in 1858 and on 21st June 1860 he married Emma Sarah Lemmey and between them his two wives appear to have presented him with thirteen children, four girls and nine boys. The girls are unknown but the boys were: Montague Bayly (1861), Frederick Thomas (1863), Leicester James (1864), Thomas and James (twins, 1866), Percy Lemmey (1867), Arthur Channing (1869), Seymour (1870) and Henry Cheveley (1872).

The sixth son, Arthur Channing Glendening, was also an artist of some merit, and lived with his parents in Bourne during the late 19th century, painting many local scenes. As a boy, he was both studious and talented and in February 1894, he won a prize of five guineas in a best handwriting competition run by a London newspaper, the Weekly Telegraph.

Arthur, pictured here with his niece, Iris Glendening Walker, subsequently went to Cambridge University as a student where he distinguished himself with illustrations that appeared in a number of literary publications and on completing his studies, went to live with his parents in London and after his father's death, lived with his mother until he died in 1904. He was unmarried.

Photo courtesy Alice Munro-Faure

The effects of Robert Mason Mills which were sold by public auction after his death in 1904, included a painting of the Red Hall in Bourne, one of the only recorded examples of A C Glendening's work. It was one of 140 oil paintings and engravings amassed by Mills and it fetched the highest price of ten guineas (worth £626 at today's values). No other paintings appear to have survived although it would seem possible that there may be others that languish unknown and unidentified in houses around Bourne and in North London.

His painting of the Red Hall, however, was copied in 1891, probably by Glendening himself because he did have a reputation as a lithographic artist, to accompany a memorial or petition drawn up and signed by 76 leading businessmen, traders and residents, in an attempt to save the building which was then under threat of demolition to make way for extensions to the railway system. The petition was successful and so the Red Hall was reprieved and continued in use as the railway station booking office.

FAMILY ALBUM

The arrival of Thomas Glendening in Bourne is marked by entries in the Admission Register at the Star Lane Board School for the 1st and 8th April 1878 when seven of his sons were enrolled for lessons. The school had been opened for less than a year and although there was room for 480 pupils, there were only 200 on the roll. Large families were quite normal at that time but it must have caused quite a stir to have seven brothers all starting at the same time. They were Leicester Glendening, aged 13, Thomas and James, aged 11, Percy, aged 9, Arthur, aged 8, Seymour, aged 7, and Harry, aged 6.

An engraving of the Red Hall taken from a painting by Arthur Glendening to support a petition to save the building from demolition.
	There is also evidence that two of the Glendening boys set up in business as artists and photographers and although we do not know which, Arthur would have been one of them although the name of the other is uncertain. They had no great commercial success although they did produce several family photographs and cartes de visite such as this one.