Biography
Alfred Walter Bayes (b. Lumbutts, Yorkshire, UK 1831 - d. London 1901) helped his Methodist father, originally a shoe-maker, and mother and brother to run the museum, library, and school-room, set up in 1845, a Mutual Improvement Society establishment which was designed to educate the children of local workers. A self-taught artist he set up his business as a portrait painter in 1857. In 1863, financed by a legacy and the sale of the family house, he went to London and enrolled at Heatherley's Art School. He produced a home-made periodical, called The Studio, a pastiche of The Art Journal, in which he wrote predominantly about the work of the Pre-Raphaelites. He became a member of the St John’s Wood group; exhibited at the Royal Academy and was elected to the Royal Society of Painters and Etchers, as well as the RWS (Royal Society of Painters in Water-colour). In 1865 he married Emily Fielden (1837–1924) and their son Walter John (1869-1956) also became an artist. His recently re-discovered grave is in Highgate Cemetery.
