Samuel John Lamorna Birch RA
(1869 - 1955 )
Though born in Cheshire, he settled in Cornwall drawn by the fame of the Newlyn School of Painting. On the advice of Stanhope Forbes, he spent a year studying in Paris though he was mostly self taught. On his return he sold all his work at an exhibition in Lancaster and had two works accepted at the Royal Academy in London. By 1899 he was exhibiting widely, at the Royal Institute, the Walker Art Gallery and in Manchester and Birmingham. He continued to show a large number of works at the Royal Academy until his death and he became a Royal Academician in 1934. He traveled in Europe and went to New Zealand and Australia.