By early 1901 his widow Caroline (54) and the children – all unmarried – had moved to 171 Manchester Road, Accrington. Henry, the oldest brother (29), was by then also an ‘employer’ stockbroker, Thomas (27) a broker’s clerk (perhaps working for him) and George (25) an ‘Artist – own account’. The only record of him so far exhibiting, however, is of two watercolours at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, just before his father’s death, both sent in from 22 North Road, Tranmere: in 1893, ‘Entrance to the old quarries, Storeton’ (no. 569, 16 guineas) and in 1894, ‘A bright corner in the wood’ (no. 485, 5 guineas).

In autumn of 1900 the young Winston Churchill was elected Conservative MP (one of two) for Oldham, after a failed attempt in 1899, and his vigorous campaigning included at Accrington, a seat for which he had also considered making his second attempt. Although the circumstances are unclear, the very effective Conservative agent at Oldham, Robert Frederic Ware (1861–1919), shortly thereafter commissioned Fish to paint a portrait of the new MP, perhaps originally for the local party offices. By 2nd October 1902, however, when Churchill opened a loan exhibition from the Russell Cotes collection at Bournemouth in Oldham Art Gallery, Ware had arranged for it to be hanging on loan near the Gallery entrance. He then seems to have seen the merits, political or otherwise, of making the loan a gift to the town: Oldham Corporation minutes of 10th December note its acceptance with a formal letter of thanks being sent to Ware on 6th January 1903.

Whether Fish painted the portrait from life (and if so where) or at least partly from photographs is unknown, though its appearance suggests ad vivum. The most intriguing detail is the carved chair in which Churchill is sitting, behind a desk and papers, since it was a family possession. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, sat in it for a portrait by Edwin Arthur Ward in 1886 and so did Winston around 1900; he was also photographed in it in a series made around 1902 and others of 1949. Its inclusion was therefore sitter’s choice, but whether seen by Fish in his London flat (Mount Street at the time), brought to Oldham, or copied from another image are also unknowns. Churchill nonetheless considered the portrait significant – which it also is as apparently the earliest of him as an MP – since in 1947 he asked to be sent photographs of it. There is no evidence of other connection between Fish and Ware but the former would certainly have been witness to Churchill’s local campaigning and it is self-evident that Ware knew of (or was recommended to) him as a young local artist meriting encouragement, as well as being relatively inexpensive.

Little else is subsequently known of him. By the time of the 1911 census, the Fish family had returned to the Wirral in Cheshire, living at Hoylake. No profession is given for George on the return, where his name is entered but also crossed out, presumably since unexpectedly absent on census night. Neither does he appear elsewhere, then or later, in person or through further known painting. The only possible trace so far is of a George Fish who died at the Barrowmore Hall Sanatorium, Great Barrow (near Chester) on 21st March 1930, at the reported age of 55: that would fit, since ages are often approximate in such cases, but no other details are given.

Summarised from Art UK’s ‘Art Detective’ discussion ‘Does anyone have any information about the artist, G. W. Fish?’