East Riding Museums

Caroline Ann (or Anne) Brereton was an amateur artist, who was active in the middle of the nineteenth century. She was the eldest daughter of the Beverley surgeon Charles Brereton and his wife Caroline. Brereton produced works depicting Beverley buildings and local landscapes, both as watercolours and pen & ink drawings. Some of the latter were later reproduced as lithographs. Most of the works in the Beverley Art Gallery collection date between 1848 and the mid 1860's. She is not known to have exhibited professionally, or to have sold any of her works. In 1867, she married Dr. John Hartley and they lived at 3 Bar House, North Bar Street, Beverley. Some of her later works are signed CH or CAH. On her death, she left an estate of over £3800, the bulk of which (£2000) was bequeathed to her niece, Catherine Lillian Peach. One of her works, a sketch of Tiger Lane, Beverley, was exhibited at the opening of Beverley Art Gallery in 1910. Sources: 1851 census (at Beverley, aged 23, living with parents), 1871 census (at Beverley, with husband & married sister Mary Peach), 1881 census (at Beverley, a widow, with housekeeper), death record - October quarter 1882, Beverley district, aged 54).