Philip Robert Presants

In 1890 Philip R. Preasants (sic), an apprentice architectural draughtsman, gained a Government Scholarship and a Third Prize for a 'Head from the Antique in Sepia'.

[3] Presants was living at Ethel Terrace, Hall Road, Lakenham at the time of his marriage in 1892 and had business premises in 7 Bury St, Norwich, as indicated on some extant letterhead, referring to himself as a 'chromolithographic artist & designer to the trade.

[5] Four promotional photos from this period, held at Alexander Turnbull Library, show Presants at work with the large fine-grained stone blocks he imported from Germany.

One of his own art works entitled 'Young New Zealand at play: cricket in a mining town' was used as a colour supplement to The Press in 1899.

[15] After retiring from The Press in 1909, Presants worked out of his own studio in High St, Christchurch, 1912–1919, before moving to Belmont, Lower Hutt.

He settled in the UK just before the second World War, with his health continuing to deteriorate until he became a patient at University College Hospital, London in 1941.

Presants was found drowned in the Serpentine, 27 October 1942, "on the way to, and near, St Mary's Hospital"; the coroner recorded an open verdict.