Backhouse, Edward, 1808–1879, Backhouse and Mounsey collection, 1819-1856
- Call Number:
- MSS 13
- Holdings:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
- Creator:
- Backhouse, Edward, 1808–1879
- Title(s):
- Backhouse and Mounsey collection
- Date:
- 1819-1856
- Extent:
- 2 linear feet
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Abstract:
- The collection comprises etchings, lithographs, and drawings by Edward Backhouse, Edward Backhouse Mounsey, and other members of the Backhouse and Mounsey families of Darlington (County Durham) in the early 19th century.
- Provenance:
- Acquired 2009, Paul Mellon Fund.
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The materials are open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- Copyright UndeterminedThe collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Archives Department.
- Biographical/Historical:
- The Backhouse family of Darlington, County Durham, were prominent 18th- and 19th-century naturalists and horticulturists. The Backhouses were also Quakers and important bankers. They aligned themselves with the Pease family--also Quakers of Darlington--to become prominent 19th-century industrial financiers (becoming the principal underwriters of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the 1820s). <emph render="boldsmcaps">Edward Backhouse (1808-1879)</emph> was a Quaker minister and historical writer. He was born in Darlington on 8 May 1808, but lived for most of his life in Sunderland, where he was a partner--but not an active one--in the family colliery and banking businesses. He was a member of the Society of Friends and devoted himself to philanthropic and religious causes. In 1856 he married Katharine, daughter of Thomas and Mary Mounsey of Sunderland; they had no children. He wrote several religious histories, including <title>Biographical memoirs: being a record of the Christian lives, experiences, and deaths of members of the religious Society of Friends from its rise to 1653</title> (published 1854), and <title>Early Church History to the Death of Constantine</title> (published, posthumously, in 1884) which offers a Quaker perspective of the early church. A good amateur painter, he was also interested in natural history, and illustrated several works written by his second cousin James Backhouse, including: <title>Narrative of a visit to the Australian Colonies</title> (1843) and <title>Narrative of a visit to the Mauritius and South Africa</title> (1844). In the 1840s, he self-published collections of his own etchings of birds. <emph render="boldsmcaps">Edward Backhouse Mounsey (1840-1911)</emph> of Darlington, was the nephew of Edward Backhouse and son of John and Lucy Backhouse Mounsey. In 1878, he married Rachel Ann Fryer. He was a member of the Society of Friends and played an important role in the family banking business. <emph render="boldsmcaps">Thomas Mounsey (1793-1850)</emph> was the son of Ann Robson and John Mounsey. He married Mary Capper (ca. 1796-1870) in 1817, and they had four sons and two daughters. According to the <title>Annals of Smith of Cantley, Balby, and Doncaster, County York</title> (1878), Thomas devoted much of his leisure time to fine arts, primarily sketching, drawing, lithography, and etching on copper. He collaborated often with his relative Jonathan Richardson, who eventually became a skilled lithographic printer.
- Scope and Content:
- The collection comprises etchings, lithographs, and drawings by Edward Backhouse, Edward Backhouse Mounsey, and other members of the Backhouse and Mounsey families of Darlington (County Durham) in the early 19th century. The collection demonstrates that a number of family members practiced etching as a hobby. They were also early adopters of lithography, although the quality of the lithographic work is frequently less refined. Some of Edward Backhouse's etchings present in the current collection appear to have been self-published in the 1840s.
- Arrangement:
- The collection is arranged into three series: I. Albums; II. Etchings and drawing book by Edward Backhouse Mounsey; III. Copper plates by Thomas Mounsey.
- Genre:
- Botanical illustrations, Children's art, Etchings (prints), Graphite drawings, Pen and ink drawings, Juvenilia, Landscape drawings, Lithographs, Printing plates, and Watercolors (paintings)
- Subject Terms:
- Animals in artArt, AmateurBirds in artEtchingQuakersShips in art
- Associated Places:
- Great Britain
- Associated People/Groups:
- Backhouse, Edward, 1808-1879Backhouse, John MounseyBackhouse, Lucy Backhouse, 1812-1872Backhouse, Rachel, 1826-1898Backhouse, Thomas J. (Thomas James), 1810-1857Backus familyBarclay, Ann Ford, 1822-1913Barclay, Elizabeth GurneyCave, Henry, 1779-1836Davison, W.Mounsey familyMounsey, Edward Backhouse, 1840-1911Mounsey, J. C.Mounsey, Thomas, 1793-1850Pease, SusanPike, LydiaRichardson, Jonathan, 1802-ca. 1880Sparkes, J. M.
- Finding Aid Title:
- Backhouse and Mounsey collection
- Collection PDF:
- https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/6.pdf
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/resources/6
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/resources/6?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1