William Frederick Briggs (1889-1972) was a Bradford-born and based artist who achieved regional recognition for his portraits and landscape artworks.
He was the youngest child of six and the only son of William Henry and Mary Annie Briggs. His father was a warehouseman, then later an assistant county court bailiff, and the family lived at Hollings Square, then later on Great Horton Road, Bradford.
By 1911 William was an art student at the Bradford School of Art, close to his home. During WW1 William served a private in the Duke of Wellington (West Riding) Regiment, and the army appeared to have made use of his artistic talents. The Halifax Evening Courier, 23rd December, 1918, noted that:
We have a quartet of very interesting Christmas cards from the forces this week-end. The draughtsmanship, including the actual map work has been excellently done by Pte. W.F. Briggs.
After the war, William found work as an artist with Percy Lund Humphries & Co., Printers, in Priestman Street, Bradford and by 1921 was still living in the family home at 270 Great Horton Road.
Art Studio, Lund Humphries, circa 1950s
William married Constance Mabel Wainhouse in 1924 and a daughter, Joyce, was born the following year. By 1939 the family were living at Spring Place, Bradford, and William was still working as a printer’s artist at Lund Humphries.
However, in his own time William was an active member of Bradford Arts Club and was exhibiting his work at Cartwright Hall ad elsewhere at the Art Club exhibitions. The Bradford Observer, 25 March, 1949, singled out for praise and illustrated an example of William’s portraiture: a portrait of fellow artist, James Arundel. This is shown below.
James Arundel by W F Briggs. Image by courtesy of Frederick Marfleet.
In 1951, William had a solo show of 16 of his portrait and landscape artworks at the Bradford Civic Playhouse. One of the portraits featured was of John Trout, a fellow artist and a founder member of the Bradford Arts Club. This came in for particularly praise from the Bradford Observer, 4 December, 1951, who described it as ‘delightful … the colour of the [artist’s] smock in this picture particularly appeals’.
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If you can add to this profile, particularly with artwork images by William Brigg, please contact the Not Just Hockney site curator, Colin Neville, via ‘Contacts’ on the Home Page.
(With thanks to Colin Coates, historian, Saltaire Village website, for his research into the life and work of William Briggs, and also to Frederick Marfleet for the image shown above of his grandfather, James Arundel, by Briggs.)