author
1871–1953
A painter, illustrator, and writer from Newcastle upon Tyne, he turned his close knowledge of northern England into vivid sketch-books full of place, history, and atmosphere. His books have the feel of a local guide walking you through streets, riversides, and old buildings with an artist’s eye.
Robert J. S. Bertram, fully Robert John Scott Bertram, was a British painter, etcher, illustrator, and author born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1871. Sources about his art describe him as the son of a ships chandler, and note that after an early job as a designer in a furniture store he studied at Durham College of Art in Newcastle.
He went on to become a design teacher, with later accounts linking him to Armstrong College in Newcastle, and he built a reputation as an artist of landscape, architecture, and local history. His surviving books, including Newcastle-upon-Tyne: A Sketch-Book and Durham: A Sketch-Book, show the same interests: close observation, strong visual detail, and a deep affection for the places he wrote about.
Bertram died in 1953. While he is not widely known today, his work remains appealing for readers who enjoy regional history, illustrated travel writing, and portraits of North East England seen by someone who knew it intimately.