# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stocks, Lumb

​STOCKS, LUMB (1812–1892), line-engraver, son of a Yorkshire coal-owner, was born at Lightcliffe, near Halifax, on 30 Nov. 1812. He was educated at Horton, near Bradford, and while there he received instruction in drawing from Charles Cope, the father of Charles West Cope, R.A. At the age of fifteen he came to London, and was articled to Charles Rolls, the line-engraver, and in 1832 he exhibited at the Royal Academy a ‘Portrait of a Young Artist.’ On the expiration of his articles he began the practice of his art by engraving some excellent plates for the annuals then in vogue, among which were ‘The Lace Maker’ and ‘Going to Service,’ after James Inskipp, for the ‘Amulet’ of 1835. He next engraved for Finden's ‘Royal Gallery of British Art’ the plates of ‘The Procession to the Christening,’ after Penry Williams; ‘Preparing Moses for the Fair,’ from the ‘Vicar of Wakefield,’ after Maclise; and ‘Nell Gwyn,’ after Charles Landseer, R.A. ​These were followed by ‘Raffaelle and the Fornarina,’ after Sir Augustus Wall Callcott, R.A., engraved for the Art Union of London, and by three plates—‘The Glee Maiden’ and ‘Ruth,’ after Robert Scott Lauder, and ‘The Parable of the Ten Virgins,’ after James Eckford Lauder—engraved for the Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland. About the same time he produced ‘The Dame School’ and ‘The Rubber,’ after Thomas Webster, R.A., and ‘Bedtime,’ after Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A., as well as several plates for the ‘Art Journal’ from pictures in the Royal and Vernon collections, which included ‘Cupid and Psyche,’ after Thomas Uwins, R.A., ‘Uncle Toby and the Widow,’ after Charles Robert Leslie, R.A., and ‘St. Luke painting the Virgin,’ after Steinla.
In 1853 Stocks was elected an associate engraver of the Royal Academy, and in 1855 became an associate engraver of the new class, which rendered him eligible for the higher rank of academician, to which he was elected in 1871. About 1859 he engraved for the Art Union of Glasgow ‘Many Happy Returns of the Day,’ after Frith, which was followed by a series of plates illustrating ‘The Dowie Dens of Yarrow,’ after Sir J. Noel Paton, R.S.A., and later on by ‘The Gentle Shepherd,’ after Wilkie, and ‘O Nannie, wilt thou gang wi' me?’ after Thomas Faed, R.A., for the Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland. He likewise engraved for the Art Union of London ‘Claude Duval,’ after Frith; ‘The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher after the Battle of Waterloo,’ from the painting by Maclise in the House of Lords; ‘Dr. Johnson waiting for an Audience of Lord Chesterfield,’ after Edward Matthew Ward, R.A.; and ‘Stolen by Gipsies: the Rescue,’ after J. B. Burgess, R.A., the last of which had been left unfinished by Charles Henry Jeens.
Among other and later brilliant works by Stocks were ‘Charlotte Corday in the Conciergerie’ and ‘Marie Antoinette listening to the Act of Accusation the day before her Trial,’ after E. M. Ward, R.A.; ‘Detected,’ by J. Callcott Horsley, R.A.; ‘The Fight interrupted,’ after Mulready; ‘The Odalisque’ and ‘The Sister's Kiss,’ after Sir Frederic (Lord) Leighton, P.R.A.; ‘The Silken Gown,’ after Thomas Faed, R.A.; ‘Olivia and Viola,’ from ‘Twelfth Night,’ after Sir J. Noel Paton; a ‘Souvenir of Velasquez’ and ‘The Princes in the Tower,’ after Sir John Everett Millais, P.R.A.; and ‘The Spanish Letter-Writer,’ after J. B. Burgess, R.A.
Stocks died at 9 Richmond Villas, Seven Sisters Road, Holloway, London, on 28 April 1892, and was buried in Highgate cemetery. His widow Ellen died at Culmington rectory, Shropshire, on 13 March 1898. Stocks was the last survivor of the eminent English line-engravers of the nineteenth century. A portrait of him was painted by his son, Arthur Stocks, and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1885.
Arthur Stocks (1846–1889), third son of Lumb Stocks, was born in London on 9 April 1846, and educated at the Islington Proprietary School. He was at first a pupil of his father, but afterwards gave up engraving and entered the schools of the Royal Academy, where he gained in 1868 a silver medal for painting from the life. His first appearance as a painter was in 1866, when he sent to the Society of British Artists a picture entitled ‘'Twas a famous Victory.’ In 1867 he sent to the Royal Academy ‘Christmas Upstairs’ and ‘The Expected Letter,’ and these were followed in subsequent years by ‘A Review at Chelsea,’ ‘Mending the Old Cradle,’ ‘The Best of Husbands,’ ‘Her Last Sacrament,’ ‘Sermon Time,’ engraved in mezzotint by his brother, Bernard O. Stocks, ‘At Last,’ and ‘A Friend of Mine, Grandfather,’ and ‘The Sands of Time.’ The last two were at the Royal Academy in 1889. He exhibited also at the Institute of Painters in Oil-Colours and the Dudley Gallery, as well as at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, of which he was a member. He died at 63 Hanley Road, Hornsey Rise, London, on 12 Oct. 1889, and was buried in Highgate cemetery (Times, 28 Oct. 1889).
Walter Fryer Stocks, second son of Lumb Stocks, is known as a painter of landscapes in watercolours, which have appeared at the Royal Academy and elsewhere from 1862 to the present time.
R. E. G.