Dixon Denham

1 portrait by Thomas Phillips

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Dixon Denham

by Thomas Phillips
oil on canvas, 1826
30 in. x 25 in. (762 mm x 635 mm)
Given by John Murray, 1929
Primary Collection
NPG 2441

Sitterback to top

  • Dixon Denham (1786-1828), Soldier and traveller. Sitter in 2 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Thomas Phillips (1770-1845), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 218 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Phillips's portrait was probably commissioned by Denham's publisher John Murray for his gallery of literary celebrities. It was used as the frontispiece to Denham's account of the expedition published in 1826. In the same year Denham was appointed 'superintendent of liberated Africans' in Sierra Leone - the colony for freed slaves that Britain had established in 1808. In 1828, Denham was made governor but died of a fever only five weeks later.

Linked publicationsback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1826back to top

Current affairs

Riots break out in Lancashire against the use of the power loom, invented by Edmund Cartwright. The looms were gradually being introduced across the country, replacing large numbers of manual workers.

Art and science

Thomas Telford's Menai Straits and Conway Suspension Bridges open, the largest of their kind at the time.

International

Carl Weber arrives to live in England after his opera Der Freischutz is the hit of the London season.

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