On This Day – 4 May 1813

On this day in 1813, George Rowney (1792-1870) was admitted to the Freedom of the Company by patrimony, his occupation listed as ‘colourman.’ George was the son of Thomas Rowney (1756-1832), to whom George had been apprenticed in 1806. Thomas Rowney was admitted to the Company in 1780 and became Master in 1813.

In 1783 Thomas Rowney opened a premises in London selling perfumes and wig powder with his brother Richard. With the decline in popularity of wig-wearing, the Rowney brothers cannily diversified into the production of artists colours. Thomas departed and then returned to the business, and the company was named for several partnerships covering associated trades such as varnish-making and lithographic printing, until it became George Rowney and Co in 1832, George having headed the company since 1825.

George Rowney was nominated and elected to serve on the Court of Assistants in 1841, but requested to be excused, “stating that his mind was fully occupied in his business, and that he in consequence was necessarily called much out of town.” He made the same request in 1845, and was not nominated again.

His preoccupation with the business of George Rowney & Co was to see it become a household name, producing a wide range of art supplies, innovative retailing and portable packaging. The company supplied a number of famous artists, including John Constable and J.M.W. Turner and exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851. Turner was to become a family friend, and George Rowney & Co his official lithographer. The company continues to this day as Daler-Rowney.