BOYCOTT-BROWN, Hugh

1909 - 1990

Hugh Brown was born at 28 Avenue Rise, Bushey, Hertfordshire on 27 April 1909, son of Allan Robert Brown (8 February 1878-4 May 1947), art master at the Royal Masonic School, and his wife Emily Georgina Boycott Harrison (19 February 1881-2 March 1969), elder daughter of Charles Arthur Harrison of Toft Monks, Norfolk, who married at St Margaret's, Toft Monks on 15 April 1907. In 1911, 2-year-old Hugh was living at 24 Avenue Rise, Bushey with his parents, 33-year-old Allan Robert and 29-year-old Emily, who was born in Suffolk, and his sibling brother newly born Michael. Hugh learned to paint with his watercolourist father and several other members of the family were artists, including Hugh’s brother Michael (1910-2003). Boycott-Brown, as he was known, was educated at the Margaret Frobisher School in Bushey and at Trent College, Derbyshire and attended evening classes at Watford College, and then at Heatherley School of Fine Art, where he studied under Frederic Whiting (1874-1962), and at Cotswold School of Landscape Painting. Early on he began to paint in the open air, capturing the sudden changes of light and colour. Old sailing barges and other interesting craft were always popular subjects, but cloud formations were also of particular interest; he kept detailed charts linking prevailing winds to cloud forms in order that he could use them to best advantage in his work. In 1929 Boycott Brown began to teach at the Royal Masonic School, but he spent as much time as he could painting in East Anglia, where he became friends with William Henry David Birch (1895-1968) and John Alfred Arnesby Brown, both of whom influenced his work. In 1939, an assistant master, living at Royal Masonic Junior School, London Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire and during the Second World War served as an Intelligence Officer, working in India, South Africa, Burma, and Northern Ireland. After the war he returned to teaching, purchasing a cottage at Blakeney, Norfolk so that he could continue to paint the Norfolk coast in his spare time. He exhibited at all the major London galleries, including the Royal Academy; Royal Society of British Artists; Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, as well as in East Anglia at the Phoenix Art Gallery, Lavenham; Deben Gallery, Woodbridge; Reades Gallery, Aldeburgh and in the U.S.A. He was vice-chairman of the Stanmore Art Society and where a regular exhibitor including in 1970 'Morning Tide, Pin Mill'. In 1970, Hugh Boycott-Brown retired to 1 Lavender Cottages, Post Office Road, Knodishall, Saxmundham, Suffolk, where he continued to paint right up until his death at Mill Edge, Mill Street, Middleton, Saxmundham, Suffolk on 12 November 1990.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from Royal Masonic Junior School, London Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire
1935 1243 Path through the Trees - pen & wash

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Works by This Artist