MERRITT

Henry (5 child of Joseph Merritt, tailor). b. Oxford 8 June 1822; ed. at Blue coat school 1833–8; sang the alto and the solo parts in the choir of Carfax church 1833; apprentice to a carver and gilder 1838, a journeyman gilder 1844; a freed man of the city of Oxford; walked to London 1846 where he lived in much poverty working at his trade to 1850; employed by Joseph Parr int on to repair pictures 1851; wrote in The Reasoner under pseudonym of Christopher; published in The Leader 8 Jany. to 26 Feb. 1853 ten chapters on the Works of the old masters, their ruin and renovation; contributed to the Athenæum and the Empire; employed by sir Charles East lake on the restoration of the pictures in the National Gallery; wrote art notices for the Morning Star for £25 a year 1855; restored the paintings at Hampton court, and the battle scenes found under the coats of house paint on the staircases at Marl borough house; restored the portrait of Richard II. belonging to Westminster abbey 1865; wrote art notices for The Standard 1865 to death; lived with G. J. Holyoake at Dymoke lodge, Oval road, Regent’s park 1847 and at 1 Woburn buildings to 1866; author of Dirt and pictures separated in the works of the old masters 1854; Robert Dalby and his world of troubles 1865, anon., being his own autobiography; m. April 1877 at St. Pancras ch. Anna M. Lea a painter of domestic subjects, who exhibited 10 pictures at R.A. 1871–6 and 5 more in her married name 1878–80. d. 54 Devons hire st. Portland place, London 10 July 1877. bur. Brompton cemet. body removed to Woking. G. J. Holyoake’s Sixty years of an agitator’s life , ii 232–47 (1892); H. Merritt, art, criticism, and romance 2 vols. (1879), recollections , i 1–65, portrait ; The Times 14 July 1877 p. 13; L’ Art. Paris 4 April 1880 pp. 1–8.