William Matthison

William Matthison (1853-1926) was a watercolourist, many of whose pictures were made into chocolate-box-style postcards.

He was born in Harborne, now part of Birmingham, in 1853 and lived in Oxfordshire from 1883 until his death in 1926. William attended King Edward’s School in Birmingham, and at the age of 15 he took evening classes in advanced drawing at Birmingham’s Central School of Art and then became a pupil of the Birmingham artist Edward Watson.

In 1875 Matthison became a professional artist. He married in 1878 and had one daughter, Kate Pauline Matthison, who was born in 1881. He supplemented his income from painting by taking private pupils but spent his summer holidays painting in other parts of the country, particularly Whitby.

In 1901 Matthison (47), his wife and daughter were living in Banbury and the family employed a servant. Although Matthison was able to sell his work directly from his studio there, he had to travel to Oxford three or four times a week to give lessons.

In 1902 Matthison moved with his family to Park Town in Oxford. The picture postcard industry was just beginning, and Matthison was commissioned by Robert Peel to paint over 70 views of the University and City of Oxford. The cards were sold exclusively by E. Cross of Pembroke Street, Oxford at seven for a shilling. He was also commissioned to paint scenes of the Lake District, Whitby and Looe, and painted scenes of London and Cambridge for postcards produced by Raphael Tuck  Sons.

In 1907 the book 'Cambridge' was published, written by M.A.R. Tuker, containing 77 illustrations by Matthison. This was followed by an abridged version of 8 images in 1916, and finally in 1922, an edition with 32 of the same illustrations.

By 1910 the postcard boom was coming to an end and Robert Peel gave up postcard publishing. The plates of Matthison’s Oxford postcards were sold to Alden  Co., who continued to sell them and in 1912 published a book entitled 'Fifty Watercolour Drawings of Oxford'.