Waiting for the Train, Gomshall and Shere, Surrey

John White, RI ROI RBA (1851 – 1933)

Bodycolour. Signed and dated 1911.

14” x 21” (35.6 cm x 53.3 cm)

Born in Edinburgh, John White spent most of his childhood in Australia after his family emigrated there in 1856. He was educated in Melbourne and, on his return to Britain, studied art and design at The Royal Scottish Academy Schools from 1871. He lived at Shere in Surrey and in London before moving to Devon, where he lived at Axminster, Exeter, Branscombe and Beer. White specialised in rustic genre subjects, coastal views, landscapes and village scenes, particularly in East Devon, North Devon, Dorset and Dartmoor. He exhibited 40 times at The Royal Academy and was a member of, and a regular exhibitor at, The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, The Royal Institute of Oil Painters and The Royal Society of British Artists.

The railway station at Gomshall in Surrey is one which John White would have known well, as it also serves the village of Shere, where the artist lived. Indeed, the station, which was opened in 1849, was originally named Gomshall & Shere Heath, then Gomshall & Sheire (sic) and, from 1852, Gomshall & Shere. It was only in 1980 that the railway station became known simply as Gomshall.