James Waylen (1810-1894) in his 20s was already successful as an artist when he exhibited two portraits and a work entitled Marmion Borne Down by the Scottish Spearmen at Flodden at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1834 to 1838.[3]
He was born in Devizes, Wiltshire in southern England on 19 April 1810 of Robert and Sarah Waylen.[4] He on 2nd June 1829 came to the office [of the famous civil engineer Thomas Telford, designing London's St Katharine Docks].[5][6]
Working in Telford's drawing office, he made long-life friends with another civil engineer the Scottish George Turnbull who in 1838 asked Waylen to travel from London to Huntingtower near Perth in Scotland to paint a portrait in oils of Turnbull's father William Turnbull who wrote to his son:
Waylen seems just the same unassuming, kindhearted creature as when last here: his heart appears to be in his profession, and he has made more progress in it than could have been expected in the time; we find him very amusing in the accounts of his travels. He has been here more than a week and has made a success in making a likeness of me: everyone who sees it says the likeness is striking.[7]
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Waylen seems to have had a long artistic career in that he in about 1868 was commissioned by Turnbull to paint Turnbull's three children together. Yet later, in 1884, Waylen as a present to Turnbull painted Turnbull's great uncle Colonel George Turnbull.