Identity:

Lionel Charles ('Bill') Henley was a genre painter.

Life:

Henley studied in Dusseldorf and exhibited in Magdebourg. Returning to Britain, he was an active exhibitor between 1862 and 1893, showing at the Royal Academy, British Institution, Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of British Artists, as well as at the Royal Society of Artists in Birmingham and Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. In 1879 he was elected a member of the Society of British Artists, a society that elected JW its President in 1886.

In 1884 Henley was included among those invited to the private view of 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884, on 17 May (#08682). In 1887 and 1888 he acted as auditor of the Royal Society of British Artists, which had through JW then gained a Royal Charter (#05306). In 1888 Henley proposed that the Secretary be excused from paying the annual subscription (#05320). Henley was among those who called for JW's resignation in 1888 (#05321).

Bibliography:

Wood, Christopher, Dictionary of Victorian Artists, Woodbridge, 1971; Johnson, J., and Anna Greutzner, Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, Woodbridge, 1980; Walkley, Giles, Artists' houses in London 1764-1914, Aldershot, 1994.