Harry Pelling Gill

Harry Pelling Gill (9 March 1855 – 25 May 1916), commonly referred to as H. P. Gill or Harry P. Gill, was an English-born Australian art curator, teacher and painter, who lived in Adelaide, South Australia for much of his life.

Background

Gill was born at Brighton, Sussex, England, the son of Alfred Gill and his wife Frances Elizabeth, née Pelling. Gill studied at the Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School, the Brighton School of Art, and at the South Kensington School of Art (National Art Training School), where he won a scholarship in 1877.

In 1882 Gill was appointed master of the School of Design at Adelaide, selected by the Board of Governors of the South Australian Institute, and held this position until 1909, when it was taken over by the Education Department and became the Adelaide School of Art, with Gill as Principal and Examiner.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56733145 |title=Concerning People |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=1 July 1909 |accessdate=8 February 2015 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Gill brought with him the South Kensington system of art education, which entailed copying with great exactitude.{{cite web | website=Architects of South Australia | title=Architect Details: Jory, Harrold Herbert (Herbert) | url=https://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=82 | access-date=18 January 2021}}

He founded the Adelaide Art Circle in early 1890 as an exclusive club, limited to 12 members and restricted to professional artists. It held several exhibitions that were clearly dominated by Gill's work and was dissolved in 1892. In June that year Gill was elected president of the moribund South Australian Society of Arts and most committee positions were taken by members of the Circle,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25329714 |title=Meeting of the SA Society of Arts |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |volume=XXXIV |issue=10496 |location=South Australia |date=8 June 1892 |accessdate=23 October 2020 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} and marked a revival of the Society's fortunes. Later that year a split in the Society resulted in the formation of the Adelaide Easel Club.File:Harry Pelling Gill - e59dd65e63.jpg

Gill published The Straight and Crooked Paths of Studentship in 1894. He was appointed honorary curator of the Art Gallery of South Australia, and in 1899 visited Europe where, with the assistance of a committee, he spent £10,000 on works of art. He was also responsible for purchasing works of young Australian artists such as Tom Roberts, Hans Heysen and Frederick McCubbin.{{cite web|url=http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1066&c=7521 |website=SA Memory|publisher=State Library of South Australia|title=Settler's cottage: Catalogue record|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404050355/http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1066&c=7521|archive-date=4 April 2016}}

[[File:South Australian Society of Arts Selection and Hanging Committee 1902.png|thumb|South Australian Society of Arts Selection and Hanging Committee 1902:

Mr Harry P Gill (Chairman), Messrs J. White, J Ashton, Edward Davies, J Keene and H.E. Powell (Hon.Sec)]]

Gill was a longtime member of the South Australian Society of Arts and its president from 1909 to 1911. He was an Associate of the Royal College of Art, London, and a Freemason.

He resigned from the School of Art on 1 July 1915 on account of ill health, and while on a voyage to England, for reasons of health, died in the Mediterranean between Marseille and Gibraltar{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article124880726 |title=Personal |newspaper=Daily Herald |location=Adelaide |date=31 May 1916 |accessdate=11 March 2015 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} on 25 May 1916, and was buried at sea. He was survived by his wife and two sons.

Gill had a good reputation as a teacher and lecturer. One oil and three of his water-colours are in the Art Gallery of South Australia.{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Harry Pelling|Last=Gill|shortlink=0-dict-biogG.html#gill1|accessdate=2008-10-06}}{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Fischer|first=G. L.|authorlink= |year=1983|id=A090005b|title= Gill, Harry Pelling (1855–1916) |accessdate=2008-10-06}} One of his students was the architect Herbert Jory.

Family

Harry Pelling Gill married Annie Waring Wright, a granddaughter of T. S. O'Halloran,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89235952 |title=Personal |newspaper=The Chronicle (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=12 January 1924 |access-date=27 March 2020 |page=40 |via=Trove }} on 29 April 1886. They had two sons:

Lancelot Waring "Lance" Gill (22 August 1887 – 31 December 1969), married Isabel May Moore on 24 December 1912. Isabel was the third daughter of S. W. Moore MLA for NSW.
Erold Waring Gill (21 May 1891 – 25 July 1916) He died of wounds received during the Somme Offensive.{{cite web|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1428678/|publisher=Australian War Memorial|title=Commemorative Roll: Erold Waring Gill|accessdate=10 March 2015}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59907531 |title=Family Notices. |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=3 November 1916 |accessdate=10 March 2015 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}