Portrait of Samuel Holliday

Painting, oils on canvas, portrait of Samuel Holliday, Station Master, Newcastle Upon Tyne, previously Station Master at York, Selby and Castleford, by J J Matthews, 1898. Depicts Mr Holliday, balding with a moustache and long side whiskers, wearing a dark frock coat and white shirt. He is seated leaning back in a dark red armchair, set against the background of a green curtain. Framed.

The painting is dated 1898 and at this time Holliday would have been stationmaster of Newcastle Central Station. During his time at this station, he would have dealt with on average 700 trains a day and managed a large staff consisting of: 11 assistant stationmasters, 300 porters, 96 signalmen, 16 clerks, 22 booking clerks, and 34 parcel clerks.

Portrait paintings of stationmasters were comparatively rare in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centrury and tended to be for stationmasters who had served many years or were highly esteemed.