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Sir James Edward Smith

1 of 6 portraits of Sir James Edward Smith

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Sir James Edward Smith

by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey
pencil, circa 1825
16 7/8 in. x 13 3/8 in. (429 mm x 340 mm)
Given by Mrs George Jones, 1871
Primary Collection
NPG 316a(108)

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Founder of the Linnean Society (1788), Smith was a botanist. His publications include English Botany (1790 - 1814), and Flora Britannica (1800 - 4). This is a drawing for the bust commissioned by members of the Linnean Society, although not everyone thought that a bust by Chantrey would be a suitable commemoration. One commentator wrote, 'I only wish that the Society had thought of some other method of testifying their regard and gratitude: he is so fallen away and … so miserably altered of late, that I cannot wish a memorial to be preserved of his present state.' This drawing shows the marks added to measure the sitter's proportions before they were transferred to the clay model.
The marble bust is at the Linnean Society, London.

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Events of 1825back to top

Current affairs

Strikes, contract breaking and worker intimidation prompt the passing of a new Anti-Trade Union Combination Act to the dismay of economist John McCulloch, MP Joseph Hume and radical Francis Place who had worked for the repeal of the previous year.
Catholic Relief Bill is rejected by the House of Lords.

Art and science

Construction of Thames Tunnel begins under the direction of Marc Isambard Brunel.
Stockton to Darlington Railway, the world's first passenger system, opens.
William Hazlitt publishes The Spirit of the Age; twenty-five pen-portraits of his contemporaries in the world of literature, philosophy and politics.

International

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premieres in London.
John Quincy Adams is elected President of the United States.

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