Thomas Heathcote Hunt (24 Apr 1942 - 9 Nov 2020)

Thomas Heathcote Hunt

Born at 6 Chevin View, Bargate, to Beatrice Harriet Hunt (nee Fletcher) and Arthur Heathcote Hunt on 24th April 1942, Heathcote attended the Joseph Wright School of Art in Derby.

Initially employed in press photography, he became a Draughtsman in the Drawing Office at Horace Greaves where he met his friends ‘The Greavsey Boys’ Keith, Graham and Bryan, or the ‘KGB’ for short. He had a spell as a Technical Illustrator, before becoming a professional artist in 1971.

Heathcote exhibited in Derby with his contemporaries John Grain, John Straw and James Beresford at a gallery on Irongate and in the foyer of The Playhouse.

The Halford House Gallery at Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds became the main venue for sales of his paintings, along with galleries in Betwys-y-Coed, Harrogate, Derby and Harrods in London.

After a Red Cross charity exhibition at Kedleston Hall, he was commissioned to paint several pictures by Viscount and Viscountess Scarsdale.

In 1977 Heathcote was commissioned to paint a picture of Heage Windmill by Belper Town Council for the Queen’s Jubilee, which he presented to Buckingham Palace. Then in 1980 another Royal commission was requested for Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

As a young man he enjoyed long walks throughout the Peak District, and later he joined a cave rescue organisation, based at a little cottage in Edale.

Whilst living at Bargate, he was a member of the Sub-Aqua club which used the swimming pool at Belper Leisure Centre.

In later years his main hobby and interest was the dance night at The Locksley Social Club in Nottingham, where he made many friends.

Heathcote recalled some of his early memories:

‘I was born at Ivy Dene, 6 Chevin View, Bargate Road near Belper in a semi-detached house owned by my Grandmother (who said she used to sit and watch the embers die to pay for the house).

Her name was Mary Ellen Fletcher, whose first husband Lance Corporal George Winson died on Flanders Fields during the Great War after accepting the King’s Shilling. She remarried Jeremiah Fletcher and had two children, Arthur Fletcher (my Uncle) and my Mother Beatrice, born 1920, who married Arthur Heathcote Hunt (whom she called ‘Eck’) of Horsley Woodhouse.

The people living in my Grandmother’s house were: my Mum and Dad, Aunt Maria, Grandmother and Grandfather, my Uncle Arthur and myself (somewhat cramped by today’s standards).

I remember sleeping in a wicker clothes basket, as a cot, and being cradled in my Uncle Arthur’s arms – he was the person who claimed to teach me how to draw.

I have fond memories of walks with my Grandfather in the early morning sunshine, watching skylarks rise high in the air and collecting mushrooms for lunch.

An interesting character who visited us when I was young was the blade sharpener, who pedalled his bicycle contraption adapted to sharpen scissors and knifes for 6d an item.

During the years of the Second World War, I remember hearing an explosion across the valley at the Chevin, which was sufficient to make the upstairs window and wall move outwards and then return to its original position. The intention of the bomb had been to destroy the railway line in the valley, but fortunately it missed its target.

During ‘blackout’ we hid under the kitchen table, with a heavy cloth draped over it, listening to the sound of the luft waffe engines coughing and spluttering overhead.’