JOHNSON, Esther Borough

1866 - 1958

As Esther Harriet George, she was born at Sutton Maddock, Shifnal, Shropshire on 2 April 1866 and baptised on 4 April 1866, twin daughter of the several children of Revd James George, curate at Edgbaston, Shropshire, and his wife Harriet née Panting, who married at Castlemortonon, Worcestershire on 13 October 1856. Esther was educated privately and studied at Birmingham School of Art, Chelsea School of Art and at Herkomer's Art School at Bushey, Hertfordshire. In 1891, a 25-year-old, living at The Vicarage, Chapel Yard, Pentney, Freebridge Lynn, Norfolk with her parents, 65-year-old James, vicar of Pentney, and 67-year-old Harriet, with her sibling twin sister, Lydia 25. Esther married at Quendon Parish Church, Essex on 8 January 1903, artist Ernest Borough Johnson (9 December 1856-30 July 1949) and she painted under the name of Esther Borough Johnson. In 1911, a 45-year-old, living at 2 The Paragon, Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey with her 44-year-old artist husband Ernest, together with her 85-year-old widowed father Revd James George and they retained two indoor servants. A member and exhibitor at the Society of Graphic Fine Art and the Pastel Society, she exhibited at the Ipswich Art Society in 1933, from 22 Westbourne Park Road, Bayswater, London, an oil 'The Three Friends' which was priced at £150. She also exhibited at the Royal Academy both as Esther George and as Esther Borough Johnson, and with the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Women's International Art Club. In 1939, Esther and her husband were living at Thatched Cottage, Bay Road, Easthampstead, Berkshire. As Esther Harriet Borough Johnson, she died at Briarwood Nursing Home, The Avenue, Worcester Park, Surrey on 28 October 1958, aged 92. She was the author of 'The Technique of Flower Painting in Oil, Water-Colour' (1931) and 'The Technique of Pencil Drawing' (1947).

Royal Academy Exhibits
from 2 Hope Cottage, Park Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire
1896 1255 The Old Parish Clerk - watercolour
from 8 Upper Cheyne Row, London SW
1905 1158 Miss Dulcie Kirkman - watercolour
         1240 Mrs Gordon Green - watercolour
         1255 Portrait of a Lady - watercolour
from 2 Paragon, Petersham Road, Bayswater, West London
1913 100 Tea
         1553 The Ice Cream Barrow - black & white
from 22 Westbourne Park Road, Bayswater, West London
1915 718 Caudebec on Seine
1916 207 A Portrait - black & white
         638 Belgian Refugees
1917 593 Miss Justine Kong-King
         654 From my Studio
1918 239 The Strap Hangers
1920 108 W. A. Minards, Esq.
1928 295 Hyde Park

---

Works by This Artist