William John Bertram Newcombe (1907-1969) was a well-known painter in oil, gouache, watercolour and mixed media. He was born in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, and was largely self-taught as an artist although he did take some private lessons from the Group of Seven painter, Frederick Varley. Newcombe lived in Toronto from 1936-1955 and he exhibited widely in Canada and the USA, including at the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, the Ontario Society of Artists and the American Watercolor Society. He settled in London, England in 1955 where he died in 1969. Newcombe had numerous solo shows in the UK including at Obelisk Gallery, London; New Vision Gallery, London (5 shows from 1958); Portal Gallery, London; Grosvenor Gallery, London; Stone Gallery, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne; Heal’s Art Gallery, London; and County Town Gallery, Lewes, Sussex (1964). His work is held in public collections internationally including the UK Government Art Collection, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and Museum of Fine Arts Boston, USA. He is best known for his abstract paintings.