Joseph Strutt (engraver and antiquary)

Joseph Strutt
Frontispiece from the 1802 edition of Strutt's 1801 book, The sports and pastimes of the people of England from the earliest period.
Born	27 October 1749 Chelmsford, Essex
Died	16 October 1802
Nationality	Englisch
Known for	Engraver, antiquary, artist, writer

Joseph Strutt (27 October 1749 – 16 October 1802) was an English engraver, artist, antiquary and writer.

Life and work

Strutt was born at Springfield Mill in Chelmsford, Essex, the youngest son of Thomas Strutt by his wife Elizabeth (daughter of John Ingold, miller, of Woodham Walter, near Maldon, Essex) - the mill belonged to his father, a wealthy miller. When Joseph was little more than a year old, his father died, leaving his mother to bring up Joseph and his elder brother John - born a year or two earlier, and going on to become a physician in Westminster, London. John was educated at King Edward's school, Chelmsford (where there is a house named for him), at and at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to the engraver, William Wynne Ryland.

In 1770, he became a student at the Royal Academy in London, and was awarded one of the first silver medals to be presented by the Academy; the following year he took one of the first gold medals. In 1771 he became a student in the reading-room of the British Museum, whence he drew the materials for most of his antiquarian works. His first book, "The Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England", appeared in 1773. For it he drew and engraved from ancient manuscripts representations of kings, costumes, armour, seals, and other objects of interest, this being the first work of its kind published in England. He spent the greater part of his life in similar labours, his art in service to his antiquarian and literary researches. Between 1774 and 1776 he published the three volumes of his "Manners, Customs, Arms, Habits etc. of the People of England", and in 1777–8 the two volumes of his "Chronicle of England", both large quarto works, profusely illustrated, and involving a vast amount of research. Of the former a French edition appeared in 1789. The latter Strutt originally intended to extend to six volumes, but he failed to obtain adequate support.

At this period he resided partly in London, partly at Chelmsford, but made frequent trips away for the purposes of antiquarian study. In 1774, on his marriage, he took a house in Duke Street, Portland Place. For seven years after the death of his wife, in 1778, he devoted his attention to painting, and exhibited nine pictures, mostly classical subjects, in the Royal Academy. From this period date several of his best engravings, executed in the "chalk" or dotted style which had been introduced from the Continent by his master, Ryland.

After 1785 Strutt resumed his antiquarian and literary researches, and brought out his ‘"Biographical Dictionary of Engravers" (2 vols. 1785–6).

In 1790, his health having failed, and having fallen into debt through the dishonesty of a relative, Strutt took up residence at Bacon's Farm, Bramfield, Hertfordshire, where he lived in seclusion, carrying on his work as an engraver, and devoting his spare time to the establishment of a Sunday and evening school. At Bramfield he executed several engravings of exceptional merit, including thirteen after designs by Thomas Stothard included in John Bradford's edition of the "Pilgrim's Progress" (London, 8vo, 1792) . He also gathered the materials for more than one posthumously published work of fiction, besides writing a satirical romance relating to the French revolution, which exists in manuscript.

In 1795, having paid his debts and his health having improved, Strutt returned to London and resumed his researches. Almost immediately he brought out his ‘Dresses and Habits of the English People’ (2 vols. 1796–1799), probably the most valuable of his works. This was followed by his well-known ‘Sports and Pastimes of the People of England’ (1801), which has been frequently reprinted.

After this Strutt (now in his fifty-second year) commenced a romance, entitled "Queenhoo Hall", after an ancient manor-house at Tewin, near Bramfield. It was intended to illustrate the manners, customs, and habits of the people of England in the fifteenth century. Strutt did not live to finish it. After his death the incomplete manuscript was placed by the publisher John Murray I in the hands of Walter Scott, who added a final chapter, bringing the narrative to a somewhat premature and inartistic conclusion. It was published in 1808 in four small volumes. Scott admits in the general preface to the later editions of "Waverley" that his association with Strutt's romance largely suggested to him the publication of his own work.

On 16 Aug. 1774 he married Anne, daughter of Barwell Blower, dyer, of Bocking, Essex. On her death in September 1778 he wrote an elegiac poem to her memory, published anonymously in 1779. Strutt died on 16 Oct. 1802 at his house in Charles Street, Hatton Garden, and was buried in St. Andrew's churchyard, Holborn.

Strutt's portrait in crayon by Ozias Humphrey, R.A., is preserved in the National Portrait Gallery.

Family

Strutt left two sons. The elder, Joseph Strutt jnr. (1775–1833), was born on 28 May 1775. He was educated at Christ's Hospital and afterwards trained in Nichols's printing office, but eventually became librarian to the Duke of Northumberland. Besides editing some of his father's posthumous works, he wrote two "Commentaries" on the Holy Scriptures, which ran to several editions. He also contributed a brief sketch of his father's life to Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes" (1812, v. 665–86). He died at Isleworth, aged 58, on 12 Nov. 1833 leaving a widow and a large family.

Strutt's younger son, William Thomas Strutt (1777–1850), was born on 7 March 1777. He held a position in the bank of England, but won a reputation as a miniature painter. He died at Writtle, Essex, on 22 Feb. 1850, aged 73, leaving several sons, one being William Strutt of Wadhurst, Sussex, who, with his son, Mr. Alfred W. Strutt, carries on the artistic profession in this family to the third and fourth generations.

Legacy

Although the amount of Strutt's work as an engraver is small, apart from that appearing in his books, it is of exceptional merit and is still highly esteemed. In the study of those branches of archæology which he followed he was a pioneer, and all later work on the same lines has been built on the foundations he laid. Besides the works mentioned, two incomplete poems by him, entitled "The Test of Guilt" and "The Bumpkin's Disaster", were published in one volume in 1808.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Strutt, Joseph". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• Portraits of Joseph Strutt (National Portrait Gallery, London)
• Works by Joseph Strutt (National Portrait Gallery, London)

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