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SUMMARY: S.T. Gill accompanied John Ainsworth Horrocks' small and fatal expedition from July to September 1846. This article is about two portraits of Horrocks known only by early black and white photographs now held by the State Library of South Australia (SLSA). I attribute them to Gill and date them to early 1840.
Article type: CATALOGUE & ANALYSIS
In this article ...
This article is about two portraits of John Ainsworth Horrocks (1818 – 1846). The originals are untraced and the portraits are known only in the form of early black and white photographs held by the State Library of South Australia (SLSA). They appear to be unsigned.
Horrocks led a small expedition in 1846 intending to push European exploration to the northwest of the head of Spencer's Gulf. S.T. Gill was one of the expeditioners, as accompanying artist. Gill's main expedition works are documented in Horrocks Expedition Pictures 1846-1847. During the expedition Horrocks was fatally injured in a firearms accident.
Links below in the body of this article are to the SLSA catalogue from where you can zoom in on the pictures.
The first photo is of a bust portrait with full face view. The first copy of this image came to the State collection from C.J. Horrocks in 19241: 
John Ainsworth Horrocks | SLSA PRG 280/1/5/292.
It was supplemented later by a clearer copy from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (South Australian Branch) (RGSA:SA): 
John Ainsworth Horrocks | SLSA B 2333.
In the catalogue the original painting was dated about 1840 (when Horrocks was about 21) and attributed to Colonel Temple. In 2016 correspondence SLSA also mentioned it may be by Gill.1
Before its accession into the collection, this portrait was reproduced in the RGSA:SA journal in 1906 – see References below. It accompanied an extract of Horrocks' expedition journal and had the following caption:
John Ainsworth Horrocks eldest son of Peter Horrocks of Penwortham Lodge, Lancashire, England. Died in South Australia 1846 aged 28 years. Copied from a photo by Colonel Temple 60 Rifles.
The journal extract was compiled by Horrocks' sister Celia who had married the widowed Colonel John Temple in England in 1857.2 This caption seems to have been behind the attribution to Temple as artist, however as can be seen, it just says the photo was by Temple. SLSA would likely have got the 1840 catalogue date from a family source.
See also: John Ainsworth Horrocks' 1846 Expedition Journal.
John Ainsworth Horrocks | SLSA B 17027
The second photo is of a full length portrait, again with a full face view.
Horrocks stands, gun in hand, leaning over his horse's neck, on top of which is a beribboned straw hat and a bed roll or swag. A greyhound or kangaroo-dog is by his side. It is intended as an Australian scene – in the background there is an Aboriginal person seated (right), a kangaroo (left) and perhaps a scar tree.
The bust is almost identical in both portraits – face, hair, shirt and tie.
In the full length portrait, Horrocks' eyes appear to gaze heavenward. Was this intended by the artist as symbolic following Horrocks' 1846 death? Is the gaze really heavenward? It's hard to tell from an old photograph. Have the irises faded in the original? The horse gazes at the viewer, as was Gill's custom in horse portraits. Maybe the irises are smaller and the appearance of a heavenward gaze is an accident.
This portrait (or one like it with Horrocks mounted instead of standing) was exhibited in Adelaide in 1888, with the artist not named.
The Late Mr. J. A. Horrocks.
There is now to be seen at the Geographical Society's rooms a drawing of Mr. John Ainsworth Horrocks, one of the earliest South Australian explorers. The portrait has been shown to Mr. Holthouse, who is an old colonist, and was personally acquainted with Mr. Horrocks, and he states that the likeness is an excellent one. The explorer, whose three nephews are now living in Adelaide, is represented as mounted on a horse, with a kangaroo-dog by his side.3
In this picture Horrocks is not mounted. A mounted Horrocks portait is untraced. Was the known portrait just misdescribed in the newspaper?
In the full length portrait Horrocks is dressed the same as portrayed by Gill in expedition works such as Encounter between Horrocks and Gill and two Barnggarla men and a child near Uro Bluff, South Australia | SLV H8213. Unsurprisingly Horrocks is bearded in the expedition pictures, while just having muttonchop sideburns in these two portraits.
Horrocks suffered severe facial injuries in the accident that culminated in his death and Gill's original series of expedition paintings sensitively hide his face. See: Horrocks Expedition Pictures 1846-1847 | Conclusions. So Gill would not have painted these two full face portraits then. (Gill later eased this limitation in retrospectives.)
It's not at first obvious when, where and by whom the two photographed portraits were done, although the near identical faces indicate they're by the same artist.
Given the bust photo – and not the painting itself – was attributed to Temple in Celia Temple's edition of Horrocks' journal, nothing is to be gained by pursuing evidence supporting an attribution to Temple as artist. Gill and Horrocks were in South Australia, but Temple was elsewhere with the army. (See Timeline below.)
It is significant that both portraits are known only by photographs – at least one confirmed as originating from the Horrocks family. It's possible both were part of "a set of albumen-paper photographic prints (pre-1875) of watercolours by Gill once in the possession of the Horrocks family in England, and now lost."4
An uncited source quoted by Bowden also references Gill's pictures being criticised by another Horrocks sister, Clara:
When shown the sketches in England ... Horrocks' sister Clara exclaimed "a thousand pities that this devoted man, Mr. Gill, knew not figure drawing".5
Did she have the portraits in mind?
Gill often portrayed people full face in a naïve style. A good example is the gardener in The Seasons and the Months (1847), March | NLA R3295, who also wears a beribboned straw hat. So the two portraits are consistent with Gill's style.
Returning to the full length portrait, the background is Australian, though it seems more caricature than one would generally expect from Gill. Unless ...
Horrocks and Gill, both arrived in Adelaide from England in 1839, both aged 21. John Horrocks (with brother Eustace) had arrived in March but his extensive special land survey6 was only ready the week before Gill's 17 December arrival.
Being in town, Horrocks rode his newly imported chestnut horse Hohenloe in the New Year races.7 And Gill, after five months at sea and out of the saddle, with a similar passion for horses and the races, may well have gone too. It would not surprise if this was the occasion the two young men met.
Two months later Gill advertised himself as portrait artist, and offered "Correct resemblances of horses, dogs, &c., with local scenery, &c. executed to order."8 This is precisely what we have – portrait – horse – dog – local scenery. A clean faced Horrocks in his youth; the proud owner of chestnut Hohenloe and hunting dog Gulnare.9
(In early 1840, it would be understandable that Gill had not yet mastered Australian "scenery" – the Aboriginal person, kangaroo, scar tree and vegetation of the background. Note too that Horrocks' dog is in a similar attitude, looking to its owner, as the much later Interview with Blacks before Attack, Horrocks Expedition, South Australia (AGSA 0.1251) | SLSA B 34382 by Gill.)
Gill advertised his pictures as "suited for home conveyance"8 and these portraits seem well suited. They would have shown to the family back in England that John was established in the colony. The portrait(s) may well have been conveyed "home" by John's brother Eustace the following month on the ship Katharine Stewart Forbes.10
So the 1840 dating of the bust portrait may have been accurate family information. It's reasonable to conclude both portraits were done at the same time and were conveyed "home". Later the albumen-paper photographic prints were made by Temple and copies sent to South Australian relatives.
I think the portraits are by Gill in early 1840. Gill may have used the bust portrait as a study for the full length portrait. The full length Horrocks portrait shows Gill's early lack of mastery of Australian scenery. Horrocks may have been Gill's first paying client after he advertised in March 1840 and consequently the portraits are among his earliest dateable Australian works, along with Front, Methodist Chapel, Gawler Place | NLA NK2038/08.
To see these works, with accompanying notes, just scroll down or jump to the List of Works.
RGSA:SA 1906. John Ainsworth Horrocks' Journal Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia : South Australian Branch. v.8, 1906: 36-47.
See also: John Ainsworth Horrocks' 1846 Expedition Journal.
Internet archive (2023-10-16) for bust portrait photographs with Temple attribution: <https://web.archive.org/web/20231016210824/https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG%2B280/1/5/292> and <https://web.archive.org/web/20231016211257/https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+2333>.
1. Personal correspondence with SLSA, 17-18 November 2016.
2. South Australian Register, 28 October 1857: 2. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49208378>
3. The Express and Telegraph, 28 May 1888: 2. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207767378>
4. Appleyard 119, note 27.
5. Bowden 17.
6. South Australian Register, 14 December 1839: 5. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441038>
7. Southern Australian, 9 January 1840: 4. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71618919>. John, not Eustace, would have been the rider. Eustace was sixteen and his physical weakness was likely a factor in him returning to England after just a year in South Australia. The Register, 10 February 1923: 5. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63831347>.
8. South Australian Register, 7 March 1840: 1. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441257>
9. Gulnare referenced in Horrocks' journal, 1 August 1846. (RGSA:SA 1906)
10. Adelaide Chronicle and South Australian Advertiser, 7 April 1840: 2. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article195859766>
You can scroll down to see all pictures along with detailed notes or click a link to jump to a specific work from the list.
John Ainsworth Horrocks | State Library of South Australia B 2333
Artist: Gill, S.T. (attr.) | Date: 1840-01~/1840-03~
Catalogue: S.T. Gill and the Portraits of J.A. Horrocks
A portrait of a young John Ainsworth Horrocks (1818 - 1846). It is a bust portrait with full face view. Horrocks has wavy hair, a side part and muttonchop sideburns. He is dressed in shirt and tie.
SLSA holds two photographs of this portrait of Horrocks. Its first photo of this image was PRG 280/1/5/292 and came from C.J. Horrocks in 1924. It was supplemented by B 2333, a clearer copy from the Royal Geographical Society. (Source: SLSA accession register via personal correspondence 18 November 2016.)
The Geographical Society's copy would have been the one used in its 1906 journal and captioned: "John Ainsworth Horrocks eldest son of Peter Horrocks of Penwortham Lodge, Lancashire, England. Died in South Australia 1846 aged 28 years. Copied from a photo by Colonel Temple 60 Rifles." (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia : South Australian Branch, vol 8 (1906), pp 36-47.)
The original portrait is unknown but may have been with the Horrocks family in England and thought lost. (See also Appleyard 119 n.27.)
184
John Ainsworth Horrocks | State Library of South Australia B 17027
Artist: Gill, S.T. (attr.) | Date: 1840-01~/1840-03~
Catalogue: S.T. Gill and the Portraits of J.A. Horrocks
A full length portrait of a young John Ainsworth Horrocks (1818 - 1846) featuring his chestnut horse "Hohenloe" ridden in the 1840 New Year races and his hunting dog "Gulnare". Horrocks stands, gun in hand, leaning on his horse's neck on top of which is a beribboned straw hat and bed roll or swag. A greyhound or kangaroo-dog is by his side and looks to its master. It is intended as an Australian scene: there is an Aboriginal person seated (right), a kangaroo (left) and a tree with an unusually shaped scar. This work shows Gill's early lack of mastery of Australian scenery.
SLSA holds this photograph of a portrait of Horrocks. The original portrait is unknown but may have been with the Horrocks family in England and thought lost. (See also Appleyard 119 n.27.)
A portrait was exhibited at Royal Geographical Society of SA on 25 May 1888. It was described in the newspaper as Horrocks "mounted on a horse, with a kangaroo-dog by his side". Although Horrocks is not shown mounted, perhaps this was in fact the same image.
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David Coombe, original 23 October 2023. Updated 18 July 2025. | text copyright (except where indicated)
CITE THIS: David Coombe, 2023-2025, S.T. Gill and the Portraits of J.A. Horrocks, accessed dd mmm yyyy, <https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_and_Horrocks_Portraits.htm>