Versatile artist and teacher, father of the painter Robert Bryan Bertram and the sculptor Neville Bertram. Born in Newcastle, son of a ship’s chandler, Bertram showed early artistic promise, but had to work for his living after leaving school. While employed as a designer for a furniture shop he joined art evening classes, won a scholarship to the art school of Durham College of Science & Art in Newcastle and in 1895 was made a part-time assistant. By 1920, he had risen to master of design at what was by then Armstrong College, retiring in 1937. His abilities as a draughtsman made him much-used by publishers in the northeast, including the first volume of the Northumberland County History. His Newcastle upon Tyne Sketch Book appeared in 1914, a Durham Sketch Book in 1920.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)