Frank Egginton

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Frank Egginton

Frank Egginton, the son of Wycliffe Egginton, was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, on 10th November 1908. When he was a baby, the family moved to Newton Abbot in Devon, his father having been appointed head master of the College of Art there. Educated at Newton College and then Netwon Abbot College of Art, he then spent some time in an architect's office perfecting his drawing. In 1921 the family moved to Teignmouth, Devon. He was a keen ornithologist and during his younger days he painted during bird watching trips to Iceland and Switzerland.

Whilst visiting County Donegal, Ireland in 1930 he painted some pictures for a businessman who was a friend of his fathers. As the years went by he began to stay longer and longer in Ireland every year. He exhibited The Calabber River, County. Donegal at the 1936 Royal Scottish Academy. In 1938, Egginton visited the USA and spent several months travelling and painting the landscape, including American Indians in their villages. During the Second World War he worked in a Belfast factory, he then moved with his wife to Cookstown, County Tyrone in 1946.

Egginton also painted in Scotland, he first exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1932 with a Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal, address, showing three Donegal landscapes and the interior of a Donegal cottage. Between 1933 and 1938 inclusive he contributed fifteen works, the majority having Donegal connections. He showed two watercolours in 1947 from Lissan House, Cookstown: Peter the Fiddler, County. Sligo and The Old Bridge, Coolaney, County Sligo.

In 1952 Frank Egginton and Howard Knee held a joint exhibition in Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin. Edward Sheehy in the Dublin Magazine referred to them as belonging to the 'school of drawing-room painters', but found Egginton more interesting as a watercolourist 'in so far as many of his pictures achieve some depth and atmosphere. His wash is more free and lucent than that of Knee. A Cottage near Tralee, Co. Kerry and Connor Pass, Co. Kerry are among the bests of their kind'.

At around fifty, Egginton began painting some oils during the winter months, however, watercolours were still his primary choice. A regular exhibitor with the Fine Art Society in London, he showed well over one hundred works. His other main exhibiting venue was the Royal Cambrian Academy exhibitions at Conwy. A few pictures were sent to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, London, and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. In Belfast, his work was seen occasionally at Rodman's Art Gallery, Belfast. His two watercolours in the Queen's University collecton are Mahee, Co. Down and Soft Day Near Castlecove. Living in the Mill, Dunfanaghy, he died on 7th April 1990. In that year a nephew, Robert Egginton from Scotland, held an exhibition at the Mage Gallery, Belfast