Harry Pelling Gill

Harry Pelling Gill (9 March 1855 – 25 May 1916), commonly referred to as H. P. Gill or Harry P. Gill, was an English-born Australian art curator, teacher and painter, who lived in Adelaide, South Australia for much of his life.

Background Gill was born at Brighton, Sussex, England, the son of Alfred Gill and his wife Frances Elizabeth, née Pelling. Gill studied at the Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School, the Brighton School of Art, and at the South Kensington School of Art (National Art Training School), where he won a scholarship in 1877.

In 1882 Gill was appointed master of the School of Design at Adelaide, selected by the Board of Governors of the South Australian Institute, Gill brought with him the South Kensington system of art education, which entailed copying with great exactitude.

He founded the Adelaide Art Circle in early 1890 as an exclusive club, limited to 12 members and restricted to professional artists. It held several exhibitions that were clearly dominated by Gill's work and was dissolved in 1892. In June that year Gill was elected president of the moribund South Australian Society of Arts and most committee positions were taken by members of the Circle, and marked a revival of the Society's fortunes. Later that year a split in the Society resulted in the formation of the Adelaide Easel Club.thumb

Family Harry Pelling Gill married Annie Waring Wright, a granddaughter of T. S. O'Halloran, on 29 April 1886. They had two sons: Lancelot Waring "Lance" Gill (22 August 1887 – 31 December 1969), married Isabel May Moore on 24 December 1912. Isabel was the third daughter of S. W. Moore MLA for NSW. Erold Waring Gill (21 May 1891 – 25 July 1916) He died of wounds received during the Somme Offensive.