A painting of New Hall Mill by William H Rollitt

In May 2022, Simon Tansley contacted us via our Facebook page. He had recently purchased a mixed lot in an auction, and one of the items included was this painting of New Hall Mill. He wrote, "Would this be of interest to you or anyone associated with the Mill? I do not want anything for it... I will get it sent to you. It would be nice for it to return 'home' after nearly 100 years."

Jan Foster, one of our Friends, writes:

Of course, we were interested, and eagerly accepted Simon's very generous offer; and so, a few weeks later, the painting arrived. It is a familiar view of the mill, which has changed little over the years, apart from differences in the surrounding vegetation. But what was really exciting was the hand-written inscription on the reverse: "Mr B Styles, Newhall Mill, Sutton Coldfield, June 10th 1922. W H Rollitt."

Mr Benjamin Styles was the miller at New Hall Mill from 1898 to 1928. He was a particularly prominent figure in its history, having been responsible for the famed 80 loaves of bread which were cut, threshed, milled, and baked in one day, and sent as a gift to Queen Victoria in 1899. He gained further publicity for the mill when he wrote 'A Miller's Tale', the poem which is reproduced in our leaflets and on our tea-towels. The painting was completed only a year before Benjamin Styles bought the mill from the New Hall estate in 1923.

And what of the artist, W H Rollitt? The Birmingham Daily Post of 11th April 1924 reported on an exhibition by the Birmingham Society of Artists and artists.

The private view of the Spring Exhibition of the Birmingham Society of Artists will be opened today by the Lord Mayor. [...] Another work of distinction is "The Rising Tide" by Mr H Rollitt of Grimsby, painted with bold and strong brush work. The treatment of the sky in particular is very successful.

This was only two years after the painting was completed - we had found our man! We will add some more information about him here at a later date.

We are hugely grateful to Simon Tansley for taking the trouble to find us and return the picture. It almost seemed as if the painting was destined to find its wat back home exactly 100 years later. If only it could tell us its own story of the intervening years!

Notes

Ongoing W H Rollitt research is being conducted by Sheridan Parsons.