In 1953, Lewis Pash Renateau donated forty-seven artworks by Charles Conder (1868 – 1909) to Glasgow. These included prints and drawings and two oil paintings. 1

Fig. 1 The Trellis (Charles Conder (1868 -1909)
© CSG GIC Glasgow Museums Collection/ArtUK
(Accession Number 2989)

Fig. 2 The Bridge (Charles Conder (1868 -1909)
© CSG GIC Glasgow Museums Collection/ArtUK
(Accession Number 2990)
Lewis Renateau’s mother, Florence Pash, was born in Kingsland, Middlesex in 1863.2 She was the daughter of Daniel John Pash (1823 – 1914) a boot manufacturer, and Martha Fassett (1829 – 1906).3.4 In 1887, having gone to France apparently to study art, Florence gave birth to a son in Tours on 11 December that year. Details are contained in a notice of birth:

Fig. 3 Notice of a Birth. 5
The gist of this is that,
On 12th December 1887 at two o’clock in the evening, a midwife called Angele Passelin appeared before the deputy mayor of Tours, to inform him of a male born yesterday at 11 o’clock in the evening at Rue Nationale No. 2, the son of John Pash, aged thirty-four Lieutenant (absent) and Florence Pash his wife aged 25 no profession (married in London, England) given the first name Ludovic.
(Notes in the margin suggest that John Pash was in the English Navy and was ‘passing through and that their home was in London).
Another version is that,
Florence had an illegitimate child born in Tours, France on December 11, 1887, while she was in the country studying art. The father was Albert Carl Gustav Ludovici who was born in Prague in 1852. Lewis (Ludovic) was raised in France by foster parents named Renateau. This version seems to have been verified by Lewis’ grandson. 6
That Albert was Lewis’ father is possibly borne out by the fact that in 1889 Albert Ludovici opened a studio at 132 Sloane Street, London ‘under the management of Florence Pash’. This was a studio where lady artist pupils would be able take life classes, etc.7
Florence was with her parents and siblings at 94 Fordwich Road, Hampstead, London at the time of the census in 1891. She was now an ‘artist painting’. There is no mention of her son.8 In his biography of Walter Sickert, Matthew Sturgis has a description of Florence.
‘(She) was a forceful and handsome figure: tall, dark-haired with heavy-lidded eyes. At 28 and two years younger than Sickert when she met him when they were both showing at Suffolk Street’. ‘She had established herself with remarkable assurance in the London art world. The daughter of a successful North London shoe retailer, she had studied painting briefly at South Kensington and in France’. Sickert painted her portrait and ‘it is possible, even likely, that the friendship with Florence became an affair’. 9
Florence became a successful portrait artist exhibiting at the Royal Society of British Artists, the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy of Arts. A portrait she painted of Walter Sickert was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1924 and subsequently at the Louvre. She also sat as a model for Charles Conder and Walter Sickert. 10
In 1898, Florence, now thirty-eight, married Albert Anthony Humphrey, aged fifty-four, an ‘advertising news agent’ who had been born in Quebec, Canada. Florence and Albert were living at 122 Victoria Street, Westminster, London in 1901 along with Lewis Renateau who is listed on the census, as a ‘visitor’, born in France but now a British citizen.11
Later that year Lewis was in the lower fifth at Borden Grammar School in Kent. He was awarded prizes for being first in mathematics, languages and divinity and second in science. 12
Lewis attended Dulwich College, London between September 1903 and July 1905. He was listed as living with a guardian, Mrs Humphrey, who was his aunt, at 122 Victoria Street, London. His final form at the College was the Remove Engineering (roughly equivalent to modern Y12 in England, the penultimate year of school). In his final term he placed 10th in a class of 18 overall. In French he came 3/19; workshops 7/25; and in drawing he came 4/26.13
In 1904, Florence Humphrey gave birth to a son, Cecil Albert Humphrey. 14 (Cecil later became a Balliol Scholar and joined the Indian Civil Service. He and his wife had a daughter born in Bengal in 1937. Cecil died in Hampstead, London on 5 September 1949).15
After college, Lewis must have undertaken courses in naval architecture as this turned out to be his profession. However, in 1909, along with his stepfather, he took out a patent on ‘Improvements in and Connected with Aeroplanes’ dated 15/25 December.16
On 4 April 1913, Lewis emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Canada. He sailed from Liverpool aboard the Corsican giving his occupation as ‘draughtsman’. 17 The following year on 23 September he volunteered for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force, Royal Highlanders of Canada. He stated that he was born in London (?) and was unmarried. His next of kin was a cousin, Cecil Albert Humphrey of 122 Victoria Street, London. (Actually, his half-brother). Lewis’s occupation was as a naval architect, and his previous military experience was in the officer training corps. 18
In 1915, having previously been reported missing, 19 it was confirmed that Lewis, (now Lieutenant Renateau of the 13th Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada) had been taken prisoner at St Julien, near Ypres, on 24 April 1915. He had been transferred to the Giessen POW camp.20 While there, a fellow prisoner, Raphael Drouart (1894 – 1972) painted his portrait.

Fig. 4 Lieutenant Lewis Pash Renateau
13th Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada
Raphael Drouart, 1916
National Army Museum, London/ArtUK
The same artist later (1917) completed a painting of the camp under snow. This was done on a box lid of a food parcel originally sent to Renateau. The lid still listed the contents of the original parcel: ‘Margarine/Potted Meat/Biscuits/Prunes/Cherries/Camp Pie/Golden Syrup/Lemonade Powder/Service Rations/Cocoa/Milk/Sugar

Fig. 5 POWs at the Giessen POW Camp, Germany Autumn/Winter 1917
Raphael Drouart
National Army Museum/ArtUK
In September 1916, The Burlington Magazine published a letter from Lewis.
THE CAMP AT GIESSEN, HESSE – [We have received from a Canadian artist, Mr. Lewis Renateau, with whom we are otherwise unacquainted, the letter published below, which may relieve the anxiety of the friends of prisoners in one German camp. We have also received from Mr. H. Walter Barnett, as specimen of the work of this imprisoned society of artists, a photograph of a very pleasing pencil drawing of our correspondent, Mr. Renateau, by one of his fellow-prisoners, Mr. Albert Venelle. Mrs. A. A. Humphrey, 122 Victoria St., S.W., desires us to say that she will gladly receive any gifts on behalf of these interned artists. -ED]
GENTLEMEN, – We have received many numbers of The Burlington Magazine from Mrs. A. A. Humphrey (122 Victoria St., S.W.), and she writes to me that you were the kind donators. We appreciate them greatly and send you our most grateful thanks and best wishes,
The “we” consists of about twenty men of many various talents and qualities, from theatrical scenic painters to wood-carvers. The best artists here are Raphael Drouart (Parisian), A. Nantel (on“The Standard” Montreal), Tisseire, caricaturist (Parisian), and as students of art, A. Venelle (Brussels), Patoisseaux (Nantes), Beddoe (Ottawa). The rest are architects, decorators, furniture designers, etc.
We are very well treated and can work as we can work as we like and get in any materials from the town we need that we can afford, so that we are really very well off.
Thanking you again for your, kindly thought and gifts on behalf of the Giessen Art Fraternity,
I remain, Yours truly,
LEWIS RENATEAU.
The pencil drawing referred to above by Albert Venelle was offered for sale during the London Art Week on 6 December 2023 priced at £1200.00.

Fig. 6 Lewis Renateau by Albert Venelle 1916, Blue chalk on paper
londonartweek.co.uk Forgotten Masters/Enduring Images III 6
December 2023
Lewis’ stepfather died in 1917 and on 12 May 1923, his mother married Major C. T. Holland in Kensington Registry Office, London. 21

Fig. 7 Marriage of Florence Humphrey and Charles Holland. 22
However, the marriage ended with the death in London of Major Holland aged sixty-nine in 1927.
After the war, Lewis returned to Canada to be demobilised and on 8 April 1919 he married Ruth Meryl Smith in Montreal.

Fig. 8 Marriage Certificate 23
Lewis Pash Renateau, bachelor, son of John Renateau and Florence Pash and Ruth Meryl Smith daughter of Samuel Smith and Jane M Roberts both of the City of Montreal united by me by Authority of License in the holy bonds of matrimony on the eighth day of April nineteen hundred and nineteen.
Ruth Meryl Smith was born in Dorking, Surrey in 1882. Her family was living in Amhurst Road in Hackney in 1891 24 suggesting that her parents emigrated to Canada later. Sometime in the early 1900s she worked for six years for a Scottish engineering company, 25 but by 1911, aged twenty-seven, she was living with her sister Alice Margaret in Greenwich, London. 26 She moved to Canada in 1912 27 where she met Lewis but returned to England in 1915 to engage in war related work. She became secretary to Sir Frank Sanderson the then Controller of Trench Warfare, National Shell Filling Factories and Stores at the Ministry of Munitions. After the armistice, she returned to Canada in arriving at St. John’s Newfoundland on 1 March 1919 28 on her way to a job in Manchuria. However, she got a cable from Lewis asking her to marry him. 29
The couple returned to England, initially to Kensington in London where a son, John Pash Renateau was born on 6 November 1919. A daughter, Ann Meryl Pash Renateau, was born on 29 January 1921 at 9 Highland Road, Upper Norwood, London, the family home. From the census of that year, Lewis, aged 33 years and 6 months, born in Tours, France but a British subject was employed by the Port of London Authority as a naval architect. Also listed were Ruth Renateau aged 39 years and 2 months and their children. 30 9 Highland Road remained their address throughout the 1920s. Ruth must have returned to Canada after the birth of her daughter (possibly to introduce her children to her parents?). She returned in 1922 to resume her role as secretary to Sir Frank Sanderson after he became MP, a position she retained until 1940.31
An entry for Lewis (possibly in a list of foreign nationals) appeared in the London Gazette on 5 April 1929.
Pash, Ludovic (known as Lewis Pash Renateau); Doubtful Nationality;
Naval Architect; 39, Sylvan Road, Upper Norwood, Croydon. 18 March 1929.
Lewis joined the Port of London Authority as a naval architect and remained with them for forty years. His pastimes included swimming, tennis and cricket: he was for a time secretary of the Port of London tennis club. 32 He was also a talented amateur artist as this review of a Painting Exhibition held at the Port of London Authority indicates.
‘The best paintings are those of Mr. L. Renateau, an engineer’s draughtsman, whose normal occupation has scarcely any influence upon his pastime. Mr. Renateau’s portraits are virile and to the point, although their colour is often unsound.’ 33
The family moved to The Nutshell on Hamhough Island in the Thames and were there from 1936 until at least 1946. In 1939, Lewis was a ‘shipbuilding draughtsman and Ruth a ‘private secretary’ while Ann Reniteau claimed to be, single and an unpaid domestic, living at The Nutshell, Sunbury on Thames, with her parents. 34 During WW2, Lewis saw service in the War Office until 1947. He was in the Corps of Royal Engineers (Transportation) involved in design and construction of ports and opening up rivers etc. He was made second lieutenant on 3 March 1941 (later promoted to captain in 1944). 35
After the war, the family moved to 21 Bowes Road, Walton-on-Thames. In 1950 the occupants at this address were, Lewis, Ruth, their son John and Ruth’s sisters Alice and Frances. 36 In the same year, Ann Renateau married Arthur Douglas Eade in Cornwall and John Renateau married Gwendoline D. Fleet. 37
Lewis’ mother, Florence Pash Humphrey Holland who was still actively exhibiting in her 80s, died on 25 June 1951 aged eighty-nine. 38 His wife, Ruth Meryl Renateau died in October 1952 at 21 Bowes Road, Walton-on-Thames. She was buried on the 27th at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking, Surrey. 39 The following year, Lewis married Avalon Ethelston Osborne in Surrey. 40
(Perhaps as a result of moving house after his marriage, Lewis decided to clear out some items. Ruth may have been employed by a Glasgow firm during her time in Scotland and would have been acquainted with Kelvingrove Art Gallery. This may have prompted Lewis to deposit the Charles Conder materials there.)
In 1958, Lewis penned a letter to his local newspaper.
To the Editor Sir, – Like Major Kirkpatrick, M.C., I suffered for many years from dyspepsia and indigestion and was treated with many medicines and diets. I had all my teeth extracted and appendix removed, all of which was quite unnecessary, as I found out the cause and cured myself. Tannin in tea and food fried in a pan was the cause. Lewis Renateau, Common Moor Cottage, Burley Street, Burley. 41
Lewis Pash Renateau died on 9 October 1978 at Couch Hill Lane, Burley Ringwood, Hampshire. His funeral was held at Bournemouth Crematorium on 17 October. He was survived by his wife Avalon, two children and two grandchildren. An obituary was published in a local newspaper. 42 According to Sturgis, he left a manuscript, ‘Life of Florence Pash’ which is to be found in Islington archives in London. 43
Lewis Renateau and Charles Conder
Alexander H. MacAdams, a lumber merchant, married Sarah Emma Humphrey about 1858 in Quebec, Canada. Sarah was a sister of Albert Alexander Humphrey who married Florence Pash. The couple had a daughter Stella Maris MacAdams born in 1862. 44 In 1889, Stella married George Noel Belford in Kensington, London but she was widowed within ten years. In early summer 1901, Florence Humphrey invited Stella, her niece, to tea to meet Charles Conder.

Fig. 9 Charles Conder, Stella Maris Belford (MacAdams) and Florence Pash
The couple seem to have hit-it-off immediately so much so that Conder was heard to declare at that first meeting, ‘I’m going to marry that woman’. 45 After a holiday in Normandy with her sister Annie and Florence, Stella married Charles Conder in the British Embassy in Paris in 1901. Condor suffered from syphilis and died in a mental home in Virginia Water on 9 February 1909. 46 When Stella died three years later, it is probable that some of Charles’ artwork would have passed to Florence and thence to Lewis.
References
- https://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=jump;dtype=d;startat=17
- FamilySearch, England Census 1871; artbiogs.co.uk
- FamilySearch, England and Wales, Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005
- ancestry.co.uk, England and Wales Census 1881
- www.jtrforums.com
- Sturgis, Matthew, Walter Sickert: A Life, , HarperCollins, London, 2005 (Sickert and Ludovici, both artists, met while painting in St. Ives, Cornwall). This version is also quoted in www.jtrforums.com
- www.jtrforums.com
- ancestry.co.uk, England and Wales Census 1891
- Sturgis, Matthew, Walter Sickert: A Life, , HarperCollins, London, 2005
- Wikipedia, Florence Pash
- ancestry.co.uk, England Census, 1901
- Sittingbourne East End Gazette, 14 December 1901
- Information from Dulwich College Archivist
- FamilySearch, England and Wales Births, 1837 – 2006
- FamilySearch, England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957
- GB Patents Number GB190930194A, econterms.net
- ancestry.co.uk, Uk and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists 1890-1960
- ancestry.co.uk, Canada WW1 CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918
- Ottawa Free Press, 9 July 1915
- FamilySearch, National Archives, Military Prisoners of War, 1715-1947
- ancestry.co.uk, England and Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005
- The Graphic, 26 May 1923, p 5
- ancestry.com, Canadian Marriages
- ancestry.co.uk, England and Wales Census 1891
- London Evening News 2 April 1940
- ancestry.co.uk, England and Wales Census 1911
- ancestry.com, Canada Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935
- ibid
- London Evening News, 2 April 1940
- ancestry.co.uk, England and Wales Census 1921
- London Evening News 2 April 1940
- New Milton Observer 21 October 1978 p5
- Daily News and Westminster Gazette, 26 November 1929 p9
- ancestry.co.uk, National Register, England and Wales, 1939
- London Gazette 2 May 1941
- ancestry.co.uk, London, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1972
- FamilySearch, England and Wales, Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005
- Pash, Florence 1863-1951 Artist Biographies Ltd. Quoted in Wikipedia.
- Herald and News, 24 October 1952
- FamilySearch, England and Wales, Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005
- New Milton Advertiser & Lymington Times, Saturday, 1 March 1958
- New Milton Observer 21 October 1978, p5
- Walter Sickert: A Life, Sturgis, Matthew HarperCollins, London, 2005. Florence Pash Papers, S/SFC/2/1/9, !896-1999
- FamilySearch, Canada Census 1871
- Charles Conder the last bohemian, Galbally, Anne, Melbourne, 2002, pp.224-25
- ibid















