Identity:

William Henry O'Connor was a painter of biblical and literary subjects, and a stained glass artist. He was possibly the brother of the landscape painter John O'Connor.

Life:

O'Connor was in the George du Maurier circle. He knew JW in Paris as part of the Edward Poynter group. Between 1859 and 1865 he appears to have shared a studio with A. O'Connor at 4 Berners Street. From 1864 to 1865 Michael and Arthur O'Connor, stained glass artists, were also to be found at that address. W. H. O'Connor was a member of The Arts Club from 1866 to 1873.

In April 1867, JW quarrelled with his brother-in-law, Francis Seymour Haden, over the treatment of his late junior medical partner James Reeves Traer. Traer died suddenly on 23 April of alcohol related causes, during a trip to Paris. JW and his brother William were also in Paris, as JW's works were on view in the American section of the Paris Exposition. Haden arranged for Traer's burial at the Père Lachaise in Paris, with what JW and his brother William regarded as unseemly haste. In the resulting confrontation, Haden alleged that JW had pushed him through a plate glass window. Later, JW, his brother and other friends of Traer's, including O'Connor, arranged for his body to be exhumed and returned to his family in England for reburial (#05854).

Bibliography:

Ormonde, Leonee, George du Maurier, London, 1969.