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Finding Aid for the Farington family correspondence, ca. 1702-1858
668
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Title: Farington family correspondence
Date (inclusive): ca. 1702-1858
Collection number: 668
Creator:
Farington family.
Extent:
6 document boxes (3 linear feet)
Abstract: This collection contains multigenerational correspondence and personal notes of the Farington family. Reverend William Farington
(1704-1767) was the vicar of Leigh and rector of Warrington in Lancashire, England. His son, Joseph Farington, RA (1747-1821),
was a landscape painter best known for two collections of engraved views of the English lakes. The collection consists of
manuscript correspondence to and from the Reverend William Farington and his son Joseph Farington concerning Joseph's art
studies with Richard Wilson and his work and life in London. The collection includes the personal notes of, and watercolors
and a pen and ink caricature by, Joseph's younger brother and fellow artist George Farington. There are also letters to an
older son, William, Jr., regarding his naval travels in the West Indies, as well as correspondence with other family members.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Purchase, 1951.
Processed by Sara Torres in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Kelley Wolfe Bachli,
Spring Quarter 2008.
[Identification of item], Farington family correspondence (Collection Number 668). Department of Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
This collection contains multigenerational correspondence and personal notes of the Farington family. Reverend William Farington
(c.1704-1767), the second son of William Farington of Worden and Shaw Hall, Leyland, was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford,
where he matriculated on 11 February 1723. In 1733 he became vicar of Leigh, near Manchester, a post he held for thirty-four
years, and in 1766 he became rector of Warrington (a living that belonged to his relatives, the Athertons) in Lancashire,
England. A collection of his Sermons was posthumously published in 1769.
Rev. William Farington's second of seven sons with his wife Esther (née Gilbody), Joseph Farington, was born November 21,
1747 at Leigh, Lancashire. Joseph became a pupil of landscape artist Richard Wilson in London in 1763 at the age of sixteen;
the year after, 1764, as well as in 1765 and 1766, he gained a premium at the Society of Artists for landscape drawing. In
1765 was elected a member of the Society. He enrolled as a student at the newly established Royal Academy of Arts' (1768)
school soon after it was established, though he still exhibited his work at the Society of Artists and became one of its directors
in 1772 and 1773. Later, he became associated much more closely with the increasingly influential Royal Academy and eventually
became an extremely active and influential member; he was elected A.R.A. (Associate of the Royal Academy) in 1783, and R.A.
in 1785. Joseph Farington married Susan Mary Hammond (1750-1800) on March 19, 1776; their marriage was childless. In December
1780 Farington settled in London at 35 Upper Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square. He produced his
Views of the Lakes etc. in Cumberland and Westmorland in 1789, the first of a series of topographical works, followed by
Views of Cities and Towns in England and Wales in 1790, and completed the illustrations to the two volumes of
An History of the River Thames in 1794 and 1796. Joseph Farington was sent to the Netherlands by William Windham, M.P. for Norwich in 1793 to prepare illustrations of the
siege of Valenciennes. He later traveled to Paris in 1802, and both trips contributed to his appreciation for continental
art. Joseph Farington, R.A. is best known for two collections of engraved views of the English lakes; published
Views of cities and Towns in England and Wales (1790) and 76 plates in
History of the River Thames (1794). He wrote
A memoir of Sir Joshua Reynolds for the fifth edition of Reynolds's literary works (1819); died December 30, 1821.
Joseph Farington's younger brother, George Farington (1752-1788) was a history painter, who in 1773 was employed with his
brother in recording the Walpole painting collection a Houghton Hall, Norfolk. George studied with Benjamin West, and became
a student at the Royal Academy. He sailed for India in 1782, and died at Murishdabad in 1788. Many of Joseph's other brothers
pursued naval careers. His older brother William and two of his younger brothers, Henry (1750-1827) and Richard Atherton (1755-1822)
were all employed in the naval service of the East India Company. His fifth brother Edward (1758-1790) died of yellow fever
early in a naval career and his sixth brother, Robert (1760-1841) pursued a career in the Church.
Sources:
- The Diary of Joseph Farington ed. Kenneth Garlick and Angus MacIntyre. Vol. 1 , Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1978.
- Evelyn Newsby, 'Farington, Joseph (1747-1821)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9161, accessed 7 Feb 2008]
Collection consists of multigenerational manuscript correspondence to and from several members of the Farington Family, spanning
roughly 1702-1858. Important figures include, but are not limited to, the Reverend William Farington and his son Joseph Farington,
R.A. William's letters to his son concern Joseph's art studies with Richard Wilson and his work and life in London. The collection
also includes Joseph's brother George Farington's watercolors, a pen and ink caricature, and personal notes.
The correspondence to and from Joseph's brother William, Jr., regarding his naval travels in the West Indies, is one representative
example of the correspondence in this collection regarding naval life. The correspondence in this collection includes letters
addressed to naval men aboard several ships, including the HMS La Topaze, HMS Ruby, HMS Hibernia, HMS Plover, HMS Thunder,
HMS Clio, and the Bombay Castle East Indiamen.
The collection includes Joseph Farington's letters to a nephew discussing a naval commission.
In addition to correspondence, the collection contains personal notes, largely in the form of transcriptions of religious
and literary writing, including biblical verses, sermons, and the following authors/works: Jacob Duchè; "Lady Brook's Memoirs";
"Sherlock's Discourses"; "The Bishop of London Lecture"; James Thomson's "Summer"; Hannah More; Henry James Pye; John Milton;
William Cowper and Frances Maria Cowper. The collection also includes administrative/legal materials, including the "Will
of Thomas Armstriding" and a document related to the nomination of a schoolmaster for the grammar school at the Parish of
Leigh.
The collection was originally housed in 14 separate loose folios. The connection between the materials brought together in
each folio was not always evident; however original order has been maintained. Each series is organized by folio.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Farrington family--Correspondence.
Farington, William, 1704 or 5-1767--Correspondence.
Farington, Joseph, 1747-1821--Correspondence.
Landscape painters--England--Correspondence.
Family papers.