Local History

local history by Stephen Guy, West Derby Society

Paint & Pictures

A large house called Marlfield stood in its own grounds on Town Row for about a century, at one time the home of sugar baron Sir Henry Tate and later paint manufacturer Richard Le Doux. Both men were art lovers - Tate paid for the famous London gallery bearing his name while Le Doux was patron of Croatia’s leading artist Vlaho Bukovac (1855 - 1922). Chorley-born Sir Henry (1819 - 99) lived at Marlfield between about 1859 and 1862 as he built up his business.

Richard Le Doux and his wife Laura were later residents, adding a beautiful music room and picture gallery in 1903. Richard came to Liverpool in 1868 – he was one of several wealthy Germans who lived in West Derby. Richard was a partner in Hartmann, Le Doux & Co based at 12 Rumford Place in the city centre. The company manufactured Rahtjen’s Genuine Composition for Ship’s Bottoms, as it was advertised - paint to prevent underwater marine growth on hulls. Richard and Laura loved art and commissioned several paintings from Vlaho Bukovac, a family friend who was a frequent guest. Vlaho, revered in Croatia to this day, made his name with masterly portraits and sensuous nudes. His childhood home is preserved as a museum at Cavtat, the most southerly Croatian resort. He painted Laura in the sunny grounds of Marlfield - the large portrait is in the Walker Art Gallery’s collections. It is seen (inset) in this photograph of Town Row pictured one snowy day about 1930. Marlfield, demolished about 1958, can just be made out behind trees and outhouses. The undeveloped sites of shops at the bottom of Marlfield and Norris Green Roads are in the foreground. In the distance is a big house called The Elms, later demolished to make way for Melwood Drive. Here lived the philanthropic Thorntons who paid for both St James’s Church in Mill Lane and St John’s, Tuebrook. The many other good works of Eliza Thornton and her daughter Eliza Reade included financing hospital wards. Richard Le Doux died in 1914. In had his portrait painted in 1912 by British artist Frank Copnall, exhibited at the Walker’s renowned autumn exhibition that year. A critic wrote that the portrait was admirable, adding: “The bony structure of the head is excellently conveyed, the flesh is beautifully painted … the portrait life-like and wellbalanced”.

Visit the West Derby Society website: westderbysociety.wixsite.com/westderbysociety

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