System Number: 00442
Date: 25 July [1867][1]
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: Committee of the Burlington Fine Arts Club[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler B221
Document Type: ALcS
2 Lindsey Row
July 25.
Gentlemen -
I had the honor to present to the members of the Committee of the Burlington Club, through Mr Boxall[3], a month ago, the statement[4] of which the enclosed is a copy -
I have not had the honor of receiving from the Com[mi]ttee an answer -
On the 14th of June, I had the honor to address to the Gen Committee a letter[5], to which letter I have not had [p. 2] the honor of receiving an answer -
If the Gentlemen of the Committee feel that the very marked course they have pursued towards me, be a mistaken one, and irreconcileable [sic] with what they themselves individually could ever have expected to encounter, they will doubtless be anxious to express the regret Gentlemen experience at having treated a Gentleman with less Courtesy than must be their habit! -
[p. 3] I have the honor Gentm to be Your obt ser
J A M Whistler
To the Gentm of the Com of Bur Club -
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. 25 July [1867]
Year dated from the subject matter of the Burlington Club dispute (see below).
2. Committee of the Burlington Fine Arts Club
The Burlington Club was a club for artists and connoisseurs. It was founded in c. June 1866 and located at 177 Piccadilly. Its committee included William Boxall (1800-1879), portrait painter, Director of the National Gallery [more]; Louis Huth (1821-1905), collector [more]; Richard Fisher (d. 1890), Fellow and Curator of the Society of Painter-Etchers [more]; Vittorio Emanuelle Taparelli (1816-1890), Marquis D'Azeglio, Sardinian Ambassador and collector [more] (President); and Ralph Nicholson Wornum (1812-1877), history painter [more] (Secretary).
3. Mr Boxall
William Boxall (1800-1879), portrait painter, Director of the National Gallery [more].
4. statement
See JW to Burlington Fine Arts Club Committee, #00401. It concerned JW's quarrel with Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), surgeon and etcher, JW's brother-in-law [more], over Haden's treatment of James Reeves Traer (ca 1834 - d.1867), partner in F. S. Haden's medical practice [more]. Traer died suddenly on 23 April 1867 of alcohol related causes, during a trip to Paris. Haden arranged for Traer's burial with what JW and his brother William regarded as unseemly haste. On 26 April, a violent row took place between the brothers-in-law in a Paris café and Haden fell (or allegedly was pushed by JW) through a plate glass window. Both JW and Haden were members of the Burlington Club. In the aftermath of the Traer affair, Haden, a committee member, campaigned for JW to be excluded from the club, having brought to its attention several alleged previous incidents of assault involving JW (JW to L. Huth, #02240). On 11 June, JW received a request for his resignation from the Club on the threat of expulsion (see R. N. Wornum to JW, #10442). He wrote to William Boxall and Louis Huth (his membership proposers) in protest: 'For some time back the members of the Committee have been accepting continual relays of information and collecting documents which as I now find involve even enclosures from utter strangers on my personal affairs! - And yet at an advanced stage of this elaborate system, the first notification which I receive, actually takes the form of an unmodified request to withdraw from the club at the risk of expulsion!!' (see #00401).