Lewis Charles Powles

Powles was born in Cirencester, England, in January 1860, one of six children.[2][3][4] His father was Rev. Henry C. Powles.[5] Powles attended Oxford, where he studied Mathematics under Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland.[4] Powles gained his MA from there in 1898.[2] Powles had formal art studies under Hubert von Herkomer,[6] followed by studies in Munich.[4]

Powles was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists[7] in 1903.[8] Powles travelled extensively throughout Europe, as well as to Canada.[4] His works are in the Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, the Ferens Art Gallery, the National Trust, Lamb House,[9] the Royal Welch Fusiliers Regimental Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum,[10][7] and the Royal Collection Trust.[11] Powles is most well known for his watercolour landscapes, although he painted a number of oil portraits. Two of his watercolours were commissioned for the Library in Queen Mary's Doll House.[12][13] In 1910, he painted English writer Henry James, who was Powles' neighbour and friend in Rye.[9] Powles was also an Associate Member of the Society for Psychical Research, and was very interested in paranormal events.[14][15][16][17][18] In a letter, he once said that he was "somewhat easily impressed by the thoughts of others".[18]

He married Isabel Grace Wingfield on 21 January 1905.[19] Their daughter, writer Viola Bayley, was born in 1911. Powles died in East Sussex in 1942.[9]