Robert Payton Reid ARSA 1859-17/01/1945

On the 17^th January the Academy lost its oldest member in R. Payton Reid, who was selected as far back as 1896. He was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and was educated at George Watson's College.

His art study began at the old school of the Board of Manufactures and the Life School of the Academy, where he gained the Stuart Prize and the Maclaine-Watters Medal. Thereafter he worked for four and a half years at Munich. 

Payton Reid was a regular exhibitor in the Academy up to his last year, and his work, such as the "Dowie Dens of Yarrow," attracted considerable attention. During the recent war years, when members were permitted to send retrospective works, it was of great interest to have an opportunity to see examples of the earlier painting of our shy old friend.

He married late in life and is survived by his widow and one daughter.

RSA Obituary, transcribed from the 1945 RSA Annual Report