Young Apprentice (Newlyn Copperworks)

This large oil sketch shows Johnny Payne Cotton beating copper under the watchful eye of John D Mackenzie. Forbes was the founder of the Newlyn School which had close links with the Copper-workers school. The classes were established to give the local young men instruction in a craft that would provide them with an occupation to replace the jobs that had disappeared with the decline of the Cornish tin and copper mining industry.