Robert Taylor Pritchett
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Robert Taylor Pritchett (24 February 1828 – 16 June 1907) was a gun manufacturer, artist and illustrator. As artist he painted royal ceremonies for Queen Victoria, and he illustrated Darwin's ''
The Voyage of the Beagle ''The Voyage of the Beagle'' is the title most commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his ''Journal and Remarks'', bringing him considerable fame and respect. This was the third volume of ''The Narrative ...
''.


Early life and career

He was the son of Richard Ellis Pritchet and his wife Ann Dumbleton; his father was head of the firm of gunmakers at Enfield which supplied arms to the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
and to the
Board of Ordnance The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence ...
. After leaving
King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The s ...
, Robert entered his father's firm. By 1852 he knew the rifle designer
William Ellis Metford William Ellis Metford (4 October 1824 – 14 October 1899) was a British engineer best known for designing the Metford rifling used in the .303 calibre Lee–Metford and Martini–Metford service rifles in the late 19th century. Life He was ...
; the "Pritchett bullet", with a hollow, unplugged base, which he and Metford invented in 1853, brought him fame and an award of £1000 from the government on its adoption by the small-arms committee. As early as 1854 Pritchett was using his three-grooved rifle of his own invention. The abolition of the East India Company in 1858 deprived Pritchett's firm of its principal customer, and he sought other interests; but for some years he kept in touch with military rifle matters (partly through the Victoria Rifles, which corps he joined at its foundation in 1853), and he lectured on gunlocks and rifles at the
Working Men The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
's College and elsewhere. He interested himself in 1854 in the foundation of that college, of which
Frederick Denison Maurice John Frederick Denison Maurice (29 August 1805 – 1 April 1872), commonly known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican priest and theologian. He was a prolific author and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War ...
and
Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the workin ...
were among the pioneers. He remained a liveryman of the
Gunmakers' Company The Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, which oversees the work of the London Proof House, is one of the 113 livery companies of the City of London. History The Gunmakers' Company received its royal charter of incorporation in 1637 during the r ...
until his death.


Art

Art was an important occupation. He exhibited views of Belgium and Brittany at the
Royal Academy of Art The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
in 1851 and 1852. He formed friendships with John Leech, Charles Keene, and
Birket Foster Myles Birket Foster (4 February 1825 – 27 March 1899) was a British illustrator, watercolourist and engraver in the Victorian period. His name is also to be found as Myles Birkett Foster. Life and work Foster was born in North Shields ...
. Through
John Tenniel John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914) was an English illustrator, graphic humourist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, he was knight bachelor ...
he joined the staff of '' Punch'', for which he executed some 26 drawings between 1863 and 1869. In 1865 he sketched in Skye and the Hebrides, and next year he executed 100 illustrations for Cassell, Petter and Galpin. In 1868, after a visit to the Netherlands, he received a commission for work from
Thomas Agnew & Sons Thomas Agnew & Sons is a art dealer, fine arts dealer in London that began as a print and publishing partnership between Thomas Agnew and Vittore Zanetti in Manchester in 1817. Agnew ended the partnership by taking full control of the company in 183 ...
, who showed a collection of his pictures in their galleries in 1869. One picture was purchased by Queen Victoria, and he was soon employed on many water-colour drawings of royal functions, from "Thanksgiving Day" in 1872 to Queen Victoria's funeral in 1901. He returned to the Netherlands, where he dined at
Het Loo Palace Paleis Het Loo ( , meaning "The wikt:lea#English, Lea") is a palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, built by the House of Orange-Nassau. History The symmetry, symmetrical Dutch Baroque architecture, Dutch Baroque building was designed by Jacob Roman ...
with
King Leopold II of Belgium Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Le ...
and met the painter
Jozef Israëls Jozef Israëls (; 27 January 1824 – 12 August 1911) was a Dutch Painting, painter. He was a leading member of the group of landscape painters referred to as the Hague School and was, during his lifetime, "the most respected Dutch artist of th ...
. In 1869 and 1871 he exhibited scenes of Scheveningen at the Royal Academy, and in the latter year he published ''Brush Notes in Holland'' and made numerous sketches in Paris after the Commune. After a visit to Norway in 1874–75 he published ''Gamle Norge'' (1878).


Cruises

In 1880 he cruised round the world with Mr and Mrs Joseph Lambert in their yacht ''The Wanderer'', and illustrated their book ''The Voyage of the Wanderer'' (1883). In 1883 and 1885 he joined as artist the tours of Thomas (afterwards Earl) and Lady Brassey in the yacht ''
Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...
'', and many of his drawings appeared in Lady Brassey's ''In the Trades, the Tropics and the Roaring Forties'' (1885) and ''The Last Voyage of the Sunbeam'' (1889).


Illustrations

Pritchett drew illustrations for ''Good Words'' in 1881 and 1882, and made drawings for H. R. Mills's ''General Geography'' (1888) and the 1890 edition of
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
's ''
The Voyage of the Beagle ''The Voyage of the Beagle'' is the title most commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his ''Journal and Remarks'', bringing him considerable fame and respect. This was the third volume of ''The Narrative ...
''. Exhibitions of his work were repeated in London between 1884 and 1890, and he lectured on his travels. He was an enthusiastic yachtsman, and an expert on yachts and craft of all kinds. He illustrated the ''
Badminton Library The ''Badminton Library'', called in full ''The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes'', was a sporting and publishing project conceived by Longmans Green & Co. and edited by Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort (1824–1899). Between 1885 ...
'' volumes on ''Yachting'' (1894) and ''Sea Fishing'' (1895), and wrote much of the text of the former. His ''Pen and Pencil Sketches of Shipping and Craft all round the World'' first appeared in 1899. A collector of curios, he was an authority on ancient armour, and issued in 1890 an illustrated account of his collection of pipes in ''Smokiana (Pipes of All Nations)''. He was more successful in black-and-white than in water-colour; his drawings of shipping are noteworthy for technical accuracy.


Last years

Pritchett resided for many years at The Sands,
Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...
, and subsequently at
Burghfield Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday Book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas, ...
, Berkshire, where he died on 16 June 1907; he was buried in the parish churchyard. His wife, Louisa Kezia McRae (died 1899), whom he married in 1857, his son Ellis (died 1905), and his daughter Marian predeceased him. With the exception of some ''
netsuke A is a miniature sculpture, originating in 17th century Japan. Initially a simply-carved button fastener on the cords of an box, later developed into ornately sculpted objects of craftsmanship.Yuji Yamashita (2014), ''Meiji no saimitsu kogei'' ...
'', which he bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and some silver badges of the Ligue des Gueux, which he left to the British Museum, most of his curios, together with some of his drawings, were sold by auction by Haslam & Son at Reading in October 1907; some of his pipes were subsequently dispersed by sale in London.


References

Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchett, Robert Taylor 1828 births 1907 deaths People educated at King's College School, London People from Burghfield English inventors 19th-century English painters English watercolourists English illustrators Punch (magazine) people