The demand for pleasant genre scenes and images of bygone days were in great demand during the height of the Victorian era and many artists looked to fill the need; one of these artists was George Sheridan Knowles. Not much is known about his early life, but it is believed that he spent his youth in the Manchester area and most likely received his formal training there.

Knowles exhibited his earliest works in Manchester in 1883 and was residing at 117 Moss Lane, West, Manchester. It is likely that Frederick J. Knowles (a British landscape and figurative painter) was his brother and Juliet Knowles (a Victorian still life artist) was his sister since they also gave the same address in Manchester when t...