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James Brindley

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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James Brindley

by Francis Parsons
oil on canvas, 1770
51 1/4 in. x 39 1/4 in. (1302 mm x 997 mm)
Purchased, 1992
Primary Collection
NPG 6170

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Francis Parsons (active 1763-died 1804), Painter. Artist associated with 3 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Brindley is shown with his surveying instrument and a view of the celebrated Barton Aqueduct which carried the Bridgwater canal over the River Irwell near Manchester.

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Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1770back to top

Current affairs

Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded by Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford.

Art and science

Oliver Goldsmith publishes his poem The Deserted Village.
Philosopher and politician Edmund Burke publishes Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents discussing the limits of the King's authority.
17-year-old Thomas Chatterton, later hailed as a significant poet, commits suicide in a London garret.
Thomas Gainsborough paints his portrait of Jonathan Buttall, which later becomes known as The Blue Boy.

International

'Townshend duties' on imports into the colonies are repealed, except for the duty on tea. However, this concession is soon followed by the Boston Massacre, in which British troops fire into an unruly crowd in Boston, killing five.
Captain Cook reaches the eastern coast of Australia, at a place which he names Botany Bay. He discovers the Great Barrier Reef when HMS Endeavour runs onto it. Cook claims New South Wales for the British.

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