[Miniature portraits of Reverend Cunningham Atchison and his wife Isabella Atchison, between 1850? and 1852?/ attributed to George Baird Shaw]

fonds

[between 1850? and 1852?]

Graphic Materials, Watercolours

1008173

2 watercolours - on paper

Rev. Cunningham Atchison, a Presbyterian clergyman was born in Scotland in 1806. He arrived in Sydney in 1837, one of a number of ministers recruited by Rev. John Dunmore Lang to provide pastoral care to the growing colony and to counteract the growing influence of the Roman Catholic Church. Atchison settled in Parramatta before moving to Wollongong in 1841. In 1846 he married Isabella Osbourne, the daughter of a Royal Naval Superintendent Surgeon who had settled in the Illawarra district with his family in 1836. In 1863 Rev. Atchison became the first Presbyterian minister to settle on the North Shore and the first minister of St Peter’s Church, North Sydney. Atchison eventually fell out with John Dunmore Lang over his consistent support for compromise between the various factions which at this time plagued the Presbyterian Church. He resigned from the pastoral charge of St Peter’s in 1869. He died a year later.

Reference:
Vendor’s notes
One hundred years of Presbyterianism on the North Shore, 1844-1944: St Peter’s Presbyterian Church, North Sydney. http://www.nthsydgreenpc.pcnsw.org.au/history/100years.html

Handwritten iron gall ink labels mounts appear to be written in the same hand.

Attribution to George Baird Shaw by vendor, based on handwritten label on Rev. Atchison's portrait. The frames and handwritten labels on both portraits bear close similarities. However, according to Conservator at State Library of NSW, the techniques use in each portrait are different and the supports are of different quality paper.