Richard Josey

Richard Josey (October 4 1840 — Feb 6 1906) was a prominent mezzotint engraver in Victorian London.


Josey was born at Reading in 1840, and received his education at the Reading Blue Coat School. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed to Thomas W. Knight, and on the expiration of his apprenticeship he worked in the studio of the Chevalier Ballin. Ballin's influence is evident in Josey's work in stipple and line.

His first commission was reportedly given to him by the firm of Henry Graves and Co., for whom he continued to work for many years. His exhibits at the Royal Academy extended from 1876 to 1887.

He engraved a large number of famous portraits, notably Thomas Carlyle and the equally famous picture of "Whistler's Mother", after James McNeill Whistler; the Earl of Shaftesbury, after Sir John Millais; Cardinal Manning, after Edwin Long; David Garrick, after Gainsborough; Lord Roberts after Walter William Ouless; and Lord Wolsely and several other portraits after Frank Holl. The National Portrait Gallery, London, has 20 portraits engraved by Josey in its collection.

Among his more successful religious subjects were "The Finding of Moses," after Frederick Goodall; "Helen on the Walls of Troy," after Lord Leighton; "Preparing for Confirmation," after Burgess; "Hope Nursing Love," and "Crossing the Ford," after Sir Joshua Reynolds; "Gethsemane," after J.S. Cuthbert; "Calvary," after Sir Noel Paton; and "Pity and Love are Akin," after Frank Miles.

Josey also produced engravings of many other subjects.

Josey took a prominent part in Freemasonry, was Past Master of the Ranelagh and Shepherd's bush Lodges[2], and was also preceptor of many lodges of instruction.

He married Elizabeth Croxon in 1864. The Joseys had 14 children including a son, Maurice Josey, who became a well-known mosaic artist. Josey's wife died 3 years before he did.

Richard Josey 'Official' Website: www.richardjosey.org.uk

Maurice Richard Josey

Maurice Richard Josey (30 October 1870 — 16 May 1938) was an English mosaic artist.

Josey was born at 1 Langton Cottages, Melbourne Square, Kennington, London in 1870, son of the renowned mezzotint engraver Richard Josey and Elizabeth Croxon.

The third of fourteen children, Josey was raised and lived in Shepherd's Bush, London. As a youth, he played football for St Jude's Institute, which later merged to become Queens Park Rangers FC. He grew up in an artistic atmosphere, his father Richard, an engraver, took commissions from various artists of the day and many paintings came into the Josey household including Whistler's Mother when he was 8. By the age of 11, Maurice, along with his brothers John and Thomas, was a student of fine art. He and Tom worked under their father as mezzotint engravers, and though Maurice became a very capable artist in water colours and oils it was through the medium of mosaic that he made his name and career.

In 1893 Josey married Emily Jane Hatton (c.1864-1961), daughter of John Joseph Hatton, coal merchant, boat builder and former Worshipful Master of Berkhamsted. The Joseys had 2 sons and 5 daughters.

His most notable work was the mosaics at the The Church of the Sacred Heart and St Catherine of Alexandria in Droitwich, Worcestershire. The designs, conceived by the artist Gabriel Pippet, were begun in 1921 and executed by Josey, taking 12 years to complete. Eight and a half tons of quarter-inch glass was imported from Venice for the purpose.

Josey was assisted in the task by a boy, Fred Oates, who grew to manhood during the completion of the mosaics. Josey studied the Roman style mosaics at Ravenna in Italy prior to undertaking the Droitwich commission. The mosaics are remarkable in that they cover almost the entirety of the church. Berrow's Worcester Journal featured an article on the as yet incomplete mosaics in a 1930 supplement, stating that the church would become the only one in the world with an interior completely decorated in this manner. Josey died a few years after completing his work at Droitwich and was buried in London. After his death, a further commission was undertaken to decorate a small side chapel at Droitwich by Thomas A. Josey, Maurice's younger brother.

Josey's mosaic work can be seen in both Westminster Abbey and at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, where he completed the faces in the mosaics, working under Sir William Richmond R.A. Josey also did mosaics at Billingham, at the Middlesex Hospital Chapel and Baptistry and at a churches in Smethwick and Birmingham and also in a convent near Saltash, Cornwall.

Maurice R Josey 'Official' Website: www.mauricejosey.org.uk

Aldworth 1640

It was around 1640, probably in Aldworth, Berkshire, that Timothie Jose was born. Those of us* that have a Josey connection can trace our ancestry back to him - and currently no further.

The name Jose changed to Josee and then Josey presumably through the spellings made by priests at baptisms or weddings.

Joseys can now be found in Great Britain (UK), the USA, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.

I am a Josey descendant and my aim is to get some information on to the Web so we can find each other, share our family trees and histories, and leave a resource on the Web for future generations.

Alan Wyatt


*The Aldworth, Reading, Devon, Shepherds Bush and Australian Joseys for instance.