COLLECTORS

Explanatory Timelines Names Index First Owners

August 2020

Hannah Stark Fussey (neé: Portas) (1893-1921)

Mrs H S Fussey is recorded in the provenance of the Bristol Watercolour in the posession of Bristol Museum known as: Bristol Museum: K816, 'Avon Gorge and Bristol Hotwell'

However, when Mrs Fussey owned it the watercolour was probably known as 'Hotwells House' as this is the title by which it was later sold to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery by its next owner, Rev. John George Patton, in 1925.

Mrs Fussey was only 27 when she died in 1921 and our current hypothesis is that she aquired the Bristol Watercolour from her deceased mother (1902) who in turn had aquired it from her father.

THE FUSSEY FAMILY

The Fusseys Lived at East Halton, Lincolnshire. Kelly's Lincolnshire 1919 page 744 shows Arthur Fussey at East Halton and page 319 as a farmer at nearby North Killingholme. Mrs Hannah Stark Fussey neé Portas (1893-1921) and her husband Arthur Robert Fussey (1893-1966) have been fully identified but looking at previous generations there are a number of possibilities. Both the Fusseys and the Portas's were large families living in the same area and a number of first names are repeated. Shown here are the most probable but may later be changed.

Grandparents (maternal) of Mrs H. S. Fussey (neé Portas), being
Parents of Hannah Maria Portas (neé Proctor) (1857-1902)

Searching for male Proctor married before 1857 possibly registered in Bradford, possibly born around 1820 to1840 (again maybe in Bradford). Death before 1902. A collector of Art; the Bristol Watercolour was owned by Leonard Huskinson in 1864 and between his ownership and the Fussey family [this Mr. Proctor then Hannah Maria (Proctor) Portas then Hannah Stark (Portas) Fussey] there was another owner, 'Mr.Hull'.

Mr Proctor's wife would be another potential owner of the watercolour if she outlived her husband and we are therefore searching for a lady born 1820-1840, marriage date matching with Mr Proctor of course, and death before 1902.

Parents of Mrs H. S. Fussey (neé Portas)

David Portas (1863-1936) [Portus, David, marriage September 1891]

Hannah Maria Portas (neé Proctor) (1857-1902) [Proctor, Hannah Maria, marriage September 1891]

Mrs H. S. Fussey (neé Portas) herself and her husband

Hannah Stark Portas married Arthur Robert Fussey in 1918. On the Bristol Watercolour Provenance her name is stated as 'Mrs. H.S.Fussey' indicating that she was married at the time that she disposed of the watercolour. She therefore disposed of the watercolour between 1918 and 1921 when she died:

Arthur Robert Fussey

Born 1893 registered in Glanford Brigg (later became Scunthorpe)