Henry Brooks (act.1884–1894)

Henry Brooks (act.1884–1894)
Mrs Ridout and the Coombe Express
Signed H Brooks (lower left)
Oil on canvas
35.6 x 53.5cm; 14 x 21in

Mrs Ridout operated as the proprietress of a carrier business, conveying goods between the village of Coombe Bissett and The Shoulder of Mutton Inn, Salisbury. Her donkey car was known as 'The Coombe Express. Another version of the present work, by Henry Brooks' brother Frank, is in the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum (no.SBYWM:1999.42).