WILKINSON, Revd Joseph

1763 - 1831

Joseph Wilkinson was born at Strickland, Westmorland on 20 January 1763, son of John Wilkinson, a London merchant, who settled in Carlisle, and his wife Ann (Society Of Friends' Registers). Joseph was educated at Corpus Christi, Cambridge graduating B.A. and ordained deacon in 1790 and priest in 1792 and took the curacy of Irthington, Cumbria. Joseph had also held curacies in Sunderland and Lincoln and was chaplain to George Gordon, 9th Marquess of Huntly (28 June 1761–17 June 1853) who held lands in the Lake District. Joseph married All Saints' Church, Bolton, Cumberland in 1788, Mary Wood, daughter of Whitehaven metallurgist Charles Wood (1702–October 1774), she was a niece to doctor and scientist William Brownrigg (24 March 1711-6 January 1800) of Ormathwaite Hall and after the death of Brownrigg's wife Mary née Spedding in 1794, John and his wife went to live at Ormathwaite Hall. In 1803 Joseph was appointed to the parish of East and West Wretham, just north of Thetford in Norfolk, moving there in 1804 and where he remained for the rest of his life. He was also perpetual curate at Beccles in Suffolk. Wilkinson was a passionate amateur artist, and his slightly primitive sketches catch the isolation of Lakeland buildings and the mystery of the mountains behind. In 1809, Wilkinson asked poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772-25 July 1834) if he or William Wordsworth (7 April 1770-23 April 1850) would introduce a volume of his Lake District views and Wordsworth agreed to write the copy and his 'Select Views in Cumberland, Westmoreland and Lancashire' appeared in 1810, he was also the author of 'The Architectural Remains...of Thetford' (1822). Joseph Wilkinson died at Thetford, Norfolk on 16 October 1831, aged sixty-seven, as noticed in the 'Cambridge Chronicle and Journal' of 21 October 1831. The Wordsworth Trust has nearly 50 watercolour sketches by Joseph Wilkinson.

---

Works by This Artist