William Shipley
Encyclopedia
William Shipley was an English
drawing master, social reformer and inventor who, in 1754, founded an arts society in London
that became The Royal Society of Arts
, or Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, (RSA).
, Kent
, the son of Jonathan Shipley (d. 1749, originally of Walbrook
, London) and Martha (née Davies), and baptized on 2 June 1715. He had a brother Jonathan Shipley
, who became the Bishop of St Asaph
, and whose son William Davies Shipley became Dean of St Asaph. William grew up in the City of London
. His father died when he was just three years old and William was sent to live with his maternal grandfather. At the age of 21, he inherited £500 and used that money to practice as a painter and drawing master in Northampton
. At this point, he also joined the Northampton Philosophical Society, where he began his philanthropic life by raising funds in order to buy fuel for the poor.
Around 1750, Shipley moved to London
and set up a drawing-school near Fountain Court in The Strand (at the east corner of Beaufort Buildings), which was known first as "Shipley's Academy" and later as "Ackermann's Repository of Arts". The school proved highly successful, and among Shipley's pupils were Richard Cosway
, William Pars
, and Francis Wheatley
. Although Shipley had many students who went on to become famous artists, he himself was not remembered for his artwork.
on 22 March 1754 . Founding members included Viscount Folkestone, Lord Romney (1712–1794), Isaac Maddox
, Stephen Hales
, and Thomas Baker, the naturalist. A "plan" of Shipley's devising was published in 1755 in folio, where the aims of the society were stated, "to promote the arts, manufactures, and commerce of this kingdom by giving honorary or pecuniary rewards, as may be best adapted to the case, for the communication to the society, and through the society to the public, of all such useful inventions, discoveries, and improvements as tend to that purpose".
Historian Pierre-Nicolas Chantreau (1741–1808) was said to marvel "that such an institution was founded, not by those who held reins of government, but by William Shipley, "cultivateur modeste" The society would award premiums for different discoveries and inventions: "There appeared in the daily and evening papers a notice announcing premiums or awards" They offered premiums for the discovery of cobalt
and the raising and curing of madder
, for example. These were not just frivolous concerns but matters of Britain's most important industry, namely, textiles. According to Colley, "Cobalt dyes a brilliant blue and the madder was the principal source of all red dies until the 19th century". Quite simply, the society wanted to enable Britain's most important industry, its textile manufacturers, to be able to dye their cloth at home rather than send it abroad."
Colley goes on to say that the Society was also busy trying to solve the problem of finding enough native timber for the building of ships. This was a matter of Britain's national defence. Without timber, the Royal Navy could not build ships.The Society carried out this purpose by establishing prizes for the growing of trees, such as Oaks, chestnuts, Elms and Firs. They once offered a premium to anyone able to develop a scheme to transport breadfruit
from the East to the West Indies. Shipley raised the money for the endeavor through subscriptions. He also encouraged people to make new and more accurate maps by awarding special prizes in order to encourage exploration. Shipley's contributions to both England's economy and England's security through the Society were substantial.
about 1768. The couple's first child was born in 1769 but died after two months. In 1771, The second child, Elizabeth was born. Shipley, under the auspices of Lord Romney, founded a local institution, "The Kentish Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge", along the lines of the Society of Arts. In 1783 the society was instrumental in improving the sanitation of Maidstone gaol
, and so preventing the "gaol fever
", which had ravaged the prison population of the country.
Shipley was an inventor in his own right. He came up with ideas on how to provide inexpensive fuel for the poor, a floating light in order to save those lost in the sea (for which he received an award), a way to establish new species of fish in ponds around England, and perhaps strangest of all, a method of lining your shoes with tinfoil in order to keep them dry.
Shipley died in Maidstone
, aged 89, on 28 December 1803. A monument was erected to his memory in the north-west corner of churchyard of All Saints Church, Maidstone
. Richard Cosway painted an oil portrait of Shipley, and there is also a portrait, drawn and engraved by William Hincks, in the National Portrait Gallery (London). There is a mezzotint by John Faber Junior
of a painting by Shipley of a man blowing a lighted torch.
Many credit Shipley with helping to establish the role of private organizations to serve the public; the Crown of England was so preoccupied with war and money dealings, it had little resources to further enhance culture at the time. "Merely by existing,the society challenged the way that the British state was organized. To begin with, by taking on certain tasks, they underlined just how much the state left undone.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
drawing master, social reformer and inventor who, in 1754, founded an arts society in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
that became The Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
, or Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, (RSA).
Early years, training and career
Shipley was born in MaidstoneMaidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, the son of Jonathan Shipley (d. 1749, originally of Walbrook
Walbrook
Walbrook is the name of a ward, a street and a subterranean river in the City of London.-Underground river:The river played a key role in the Roman settlement of Londinium, the city now known as London. It is thought that the river was named because it ran through or under the London Wall; another...
, London) and Martha (née Davies), and baptized on 2 June 1715. He had a brother Jonathan Shipley
Jonathan Shipley
Jonathan Shipley was the son of a London stationer; his mother's family were owners of Twyford House, a large manor in Winchester, England. He was ordained a minister in the Church of England and became both Bishop of Llandaff and Bishop of St Asaph.Jonathan grew up at Walbrook in the City of...
, who became the Bishop of St Asaph
Bishop of St Asaph
The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph.The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of St Asaph in the town of...
, and whose son William Davies Shipley became Dean of St Asaph. William grew up in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. His father died when he was just three years old and William was sent to live with his maternal grandfather. At the age of 21, he inherited £500 and used that money to practice as a painter and drawing master in Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
. At this point, he also joined the Northampton Philosophical Society, where he began his philanthropic life by raising funds in order to buy fuel for the poor.
Around 1750, Shipley moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and set up a drawing-school near Fountain Court in The Strand (at the east corner of Beaufort Buildings), which was known first as "Shipley's Academy" and later as "Ackermann's Repository of Arts". The school proved highly successful, and among Shipley's pupils were Richard Cosway
Richard Cosway
Richard Cosway was a leading English portrait painter—more accurately a miniaturist—of the Regency era. He was a contemporary of John Smart, George Engleheart, William Wood, and Richard Crosse...
, William Pars
William Pars
William Pars was an English watercolour portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman and illustrator.-Life and works:...
, and Francis Wheatley
Francis Wheatley (painter)
Francis Wheatley was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Life and work:Wheatley was born at Wild Court, Covent Garden, London, the son of a master tailor. He studied at William Shipley's drawing school and the Royal Academy, and won several prizes from the Society of Arts...
. Although Shipley had many students who went on to become famous artists, he himself was not remembered for his artwork.
The Society of Arts
From Shipley's school, came the idea for a "Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce" He published his proposals for the society in 1753, which he hoped would make Great Britain a center for intellectual advancements in the areas of arts and sciences. The resulting organisation first met at Rawthmell's coffee house on the north side of Henrietta Street, in Covent GardenCovent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
on 22 March 1754 . Founding members included Viscount Folkestone, Lord Romney (1712–1794), Isaac Maddox
Isaac Maddox
Isaac Maddox 27th July 1697-27th September 1759) was an Anglican clergyman, successively bishop of St Asaph and of Worcester. He was a member of the Royal Society. -Life:Isaac was the son of a Dissenter, Edward Maddox, stationer of London...
, Stephen Hales
Stephen Hales
Stephen Hales, FRS was an English physiologist, chemist and inventor.Hales studied the role of air and water in the maintenance of both plant and animal life. He gave accurate accounts of the movements of water in plants, and demonstrated that plants absorb air...
, and Thomas Baker, the naturalist. A "plan" of Shipley's devising was published in 1755 in folio, where the aims of the society were stated, "to promote the arts, manufactures, and commerce of this kingdom by giving honorary or pecuniary rewards, as may be best adapted to the case, for the communication to the society, and through the society to the public, of all such useful inventions, discoveries, and improvements as tend to that purpose".
Historian Pierre-Nicolas Chantreau (1741–1808) was said to marvel "that such an institution was founded, not by those who held reins of government, but by William Shipley, "cultivateur modeste" The society would award premiums for different discoveries and inventions: "There appeared in the daily and evening papers a notice announcing premiums or awards" They offered premiums for the discovery of cobalt
Cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....
and the raising and curing of madder
Madder
Rubia is a genus of the madder family Rubiaceae, which contains about 60 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and sub-shrubs native to the Old World, Africa, temperate Asia and America...
, for example. These were not just frivolous concerns but matters of Britain's most important industry, namely, textiles. According to Colley, "Cobalt dyes a brilliant blue and the madder was the principal source of all red dies until the 19th century". Quite simply, the society wanted to enable Britain's most important industry, its textile manufacturers, to be able to dye their cloth at home rather than send it abroad."
Colley goes on to say that the Society was also busy trying to solve the problem of finding enough native timber for the building of ships. This was a matter of Britain's national defence. Without timber, the Royal Navy could not build ships.The Society carried out this purpose by establishing prizes for the growing of trees, such as Oaks, chestnuts, Elms and Firs. They once offered a premium to anyone able to develop a scheme to transport breadfruit
Breadfruit
Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands...
from the East to the West Indies. Shipley raised the money for the endeavor through subscriptions. He also encouraged people to make new and more accurate maps by awarding special prizes in order to encourage exploration. Shipley's contributions to both England's economy and England's security through the Society were substantial.
The inventor, and later years
Shipley was elected a "perpetual member" of the society in February 1755, and was presented with a gold medal by the society in 1758. But it is probable that he became less interested in the society as its sphere gradually became more technical and industrial; At any rate, he resigned his post as registrar in 1760. On November 23, 1767, William Shipley married Elizabeth Miller, and seems to have retired to MaidstoneMaidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
about 1768. The couple's first child was born in 1769 but died after two months. In 1771, The second child, Elizabeth was born. Shipley, under the auspices of Lord Romney, founded a local institution, "The Kentish Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge", along the lines of the Society of Arts. In 1783 the society was instrumental in improving the sanitation of Maidstone gaol
Maidstone (HM Prison)
HM Prison Maidstone is a Category C men's prison, located in Maidstone, Kent, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
, and so preventing the "gaol fever
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
", which had ravaged the prison population of the country.
Shipley was an inventor in his own right. He came up with ideas on how to provide inexpensive fuel for the poor, a floating light in order to save those lost in the sea (for which he received an award), a way to establish new species of fish in ponds around England, and perhaps strangest of all, a method of lining your shoes with tinfoil in order to keep them dry.
Shipley died in Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
, aged 89, on 28 December 1803. A monument was erected to his memory in the north-west corner of churchyard of All Saints Church, Maidstone
All Saints Church, Maidstone
All Saints is a parish church in Maidstone, Kent. It is a Grade I listed building, and is described as the grandest Perpendicular style church in Kent.-Establishment and dissolution:...
. Richard Cosway painted an oil portrait of Shipley, and there is also a portrait, drawn and engraved by William Hincks, in the National Portrait Gallery (London). There is a mezzotint by John Faber Junior
John Faber Junior
John Faber Junior was a Dutch portrait engraver active in London.-Life:He was born to the artist John Faber Senior in Amsterdam, and learned mezzotint and drawing from his father after the family's move to London. He then enrolled at the St. Martin's Lane Academy...
of a painting by Shipley of a man blowing a lighted torch.
Legacy
Shipley historical significance was summed up by David Allen in his biography: "Shipley's life included in its span the surge of English Commercial self-confidence which Defoe celebrated and which was to be feared by Napoleon, the spectacular first stage of the industrial Revolution from the flying shuttle to steam-powered cotton mills, the flowering of English genius in the arts from Hogarth to Turner, and the growth of English philanthropic endeavor from the first county hospitals to Hannah More's "Age if Benevolence." In the shaping of these momentous developments Shipley which was both distinctive and significant.Many credit Shipley with helping to establish the role of private organizations to serve the public; the Crown of England was so preoccupied with war and money dealings, it had little resources to further enhance culture at the time. "Merely by existing,the society challenged the way that the British state was organized. To begin with, by taking on certain tasks, they underlined just how much the state left undone.
Students of Shipley's Art school
- William HodgesWilliam HodgesWilliam Hodges RA was an English painter. He was a member of James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific Ocean, and is best known for the sketches and paintings of locations he visited on that voyage, including Table Bay, Tahiti, Easter Island, and the Antarctic.Hodges was born in London. He was a...
- Francis WheatleyFrancis Wheatley (painter)Francis Wheatley was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Life and work:Wheatley was born at Wild Court, Covent Garden, London, the son of a master tailor. He studied at William Shipley's drawing school and the Royal Academy, and won several prizes from the Society of Arts...
- Richard CoswayRichard CoswayRichard Cosway was a leading English portrait painter—more accurately a miniaturist—of the Regency era. He was a contemporary of John Smart, George Engleheart, William Wood, and Richard Crosse...
- William ParsWilliam ParsWilliam Pars was an English watercolour portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman and illustrator.-Life and works:...
Fellows of RSA with Shipley
- Samuel JohnsonSamuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
- Mr.Benjamin Franklin
- Jonas HanwayJonas HanwayJonas Hanway , English traveller and philanthropist, was born at Portsmouth, on the south coast of England.-Life:...
- William HogarthWilliam HogarthWilliam Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
- Thomas HollisThomas HollisThomas Hollis was an English political philosopher and author.-Early life:Hollis was educated at Adams Grammar School until the age 10, and then in St. Albans until 15, before learning French, Dutch and accountancy in Amsterdam. After the death of his father in 1735, his guardian was a John...
External links
- The Royal Society of Arts
- William Shipley Group for RSA History
- Portrait of Shipley by William Hincks (National Portrait gallery)