Many years ago, I got a phone call from a gentleman in a big auctioneer company in London. He had emailed me first, getting my contact from my Sproule Genealogy Blog, and asked if he could he call. When he did, he asked me if I would have any photographs of the plate that Robert Sproule of St Georges, Jamaica had commissioned from his cousin Robert Sproule in Canada?
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| St George, Grenada Plate from the series |
What? What plate? What
cousin in Canada? Robert Sproule of Jamaica I knew well, and he didn’t have a
cousin Robert Sproule in Canada. What was this about?
The auctioneer
explained that there was a series of decorative dinner plates from the early
1800s from the West Indes. He had only
one plate in the series and it was of Grenada, I think – nothing to do with
either of these Robert Sproules. It seems that another one of this same series
of plates was of Robert Sproule’s plantation in St Georges, Jamaica. He believed
it was commissioned by Robert of Jamaica himself. Another plate in the series was
a rather 'out-of-place' scene from Canada, and apparently it had been copied from
an engraving by a Robert Sproule in Canada. So the auctioneer had put two and
two together and he had guessed that these two Roberts were cousins.
I never found a
picture of this plate of Robert Sproule’s plantation, and judging from my
internet search today, neither has anyone else – though there are people still looking
for this series!
Robert Sproule of Jamaica and Mulvin is an interesting character and I will write about him shortly,
but before I get to his story, a little on that Canadian ‘cousin’ Robert
Sproule.
He wasn’t hard to
find, as he is quite famous. He is Robert Auchmuty Sproule and he is an Athlone
Sproule. His father wasThomas Ernst Sproule born about 1765ish, who was a
great grandson of Captain John Sproule of Athlone. His mother was Marianne Plummer
Ardesoif. Her uncle was the Rt Hon Sir
Samuel Auchmutty, who left Thomas Ernst and Marianne a legacy – hence the middle name of our
Robert Auchmutty Sproule.
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| Robert Aughmuty Sproule |
Thomas Ernst Sproule
was in the Navy and retired as a Commander, and it was shortly after this that
they received the legacy from Sir Samuel Auchmutty. Using this, the family
headed to Canada.
Robert Auchmuty
Sproule was the second son born in 1799, and he was educated in Trinity
College Dublin. When he arrived in Canada, he took an advertisement in the
Montreal Herald announcing himself as a miniaturist who had studied with ‘the
best masters in London and Dublin’.
In November 1829 he
brought out six views of Montreal which were later made into engravings on
copperplate.
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| Montreal from St. Helen's Island. Robert Auchmuty Sproule 1830, |
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Quebec from Point Levi Robert Aughmuty Sproule 1832 |
Although he was a proflific painter, Robert
Sproule seemed to have difficulty making a living, as most artists do, and he
moved around from place to place. He married Jane
Hopper in Montreal, and they had two sons and four daughters. He died 1845 in
March Township, Upper Canada.
- Family history of Robert Auchmutty - Eight Centuries of the Spreul & Sproule Families, James Richard Sproule
Biography of Robert Auchmuty Sproule from Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Information on the plates - CARIBBEANVIEWS SERIES (MAKER UNKNOWN)
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