The Painting
A watercolour measuring 13" x 18". Signed Fred Jay Girling. Provenance: sometime
with William Rodman & Co., 41 Donegall Place, Belfast (label verso).
About the Artist
Fred Jay Girling (1900-1982), a naval architect, was born in Leicestershire and lived
in Wellingborough and Kettering, Northamptonshire. Following the death of his father
at Gallipoli during the First World War, the family moved to Belfast where Fred trained
in naval architecture with Harland & Wolff. In 1929 he moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne
to work as a naval architect for the government. He was later posted in Leith as
Chief Ship Surveyor for the East Coast of Scotland. He retired in 1965 and was awarded
an OBE. In his later years he returned to live in Northamptonshire, in Mears Ashby.
He was a self-taught artist and painted mostly watercolours of ships and churches.
The Subject
The Inny River, County Kerry, Ireland.
