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    Dobson, William

    Male 1611 - 1646  (~ 35 years)


    Personal Information    |    Media    |    Notes    |    All    |    PDF

    • Name Dobson, William 
      Christened 3 Mar 1611  St Andrew, Holborn, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
      Gender Male 
      Died 28 Oct 1646  St Martins in the Field, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
      Person ID I05224  My Genealogy
      Last Modified 23 Jul 2012 

      Father Dobson, William,   b. Abt 1573, Of St Andrews, Holborn, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1626, Of St Albans, Hertfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 53 years) 
      Mother Barne, Alice,   c. 28 Jul 1588, All Hallows Honeylane, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Between Dec 1643 and Jan 1644, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 55 years) 
      Married 08 Apr 1605  All Hallows Honeylane, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
      Family ID F01580  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

      Family Sander, Judith,   b. Abt 1615, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1661  (Age ~ 47 years) 
      Married 18 Dec 1636  St Bride Fleet Street, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
      Children 
       1. Dobson, Catherine,   c. 26 Apr 1639, St Bartholomew the Great, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1678  (Age ~ 39 years)
      Family ID F02944  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    • Photos
      Self-Portrait with Nicholas Lanier and Sir Charles Cotterell, c. 1645, William Dobson
      Self-Portrait with Nicholas Lanier and Sir Charles Cotterell, c. 1645, William Dobson
      Detail showing William Dobson

    • Notes 
      • ...William was born on 3rd March 1611 and Christened at St Andrew's, Holborn, London. His parents were William Dobson and Alice Barnes, who married at Allhallows Honey Lane, London, in 1605. William was one of around eight or nine children, the last of whom, Abraham, was born in 1623. William Sr was a 'Gentleman' of some money, but he appears to have wasted his estate, dying in 1626, and, as noted by the antiquarian author, John Aubrey, due to 'spending his estate luxuriously upon women, necessity forced his son William Dobson to be the most excellent painter England hath yet bred'.

        William Jr was apprenticed to William Peake, a Stationer, and later worked with German artist Francis Cleyn. By the early 1630s his apprenticeship had ended and he was possibly married, as there is a record of an 'Elizabeth Dobson, wife of William' buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields churchyard in 1634. Little is known of his works or life during this decade, and very few paintings have been identifed as his from this period. The IGI (International Genealogical Index) notes that a William Dobson married Judeth Sander on 18th December 1637, at St Bride Fleet St, London. No definite record of any children from this marriage has been found, but it is intriguing that the IGI also notes the Christening of a Katherin Dobson in 1639, born to 'William Dobson' and 'Judith'.

        By late 1641/early 1642, through circumstances that are unclear, William was in Oxford, the Royalist headquarters of King Charles I during the Civil War. He was employed as the official painter to the King, replacing the Flemish artist, Anthony van Dyck, who had died the previous year. ...Dobson's best works seem to have been undertaken during the years 1644/45, and the full and three-quarter length portraits are dated to this period. After 1645, the paintings are mainly head-and-shoulder works, using very thin paint and plain backgrounds. ..
        When Oxford finally fell to the Parliamentarians in 1646, William returned to his house in St Martin's Lane, London. Evidence suggest that at some point after this he was jailed for debts, and a 1695 comment concerning him would seem to support this, stating that he 'was somewhat loose and irregular in his way of Living.' Whatever the reason for his financial situation, on his release William returned to St Martin's Lane, dying there in 'great poverty' in October 1646. He was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields. http://www.freewebs.com/dobsonart/biography.htm


        Daughter's Marriage:
        London: - Marriage Licences, 1611-1828
        Burials.
        Marriage Licences Granted by the Bishop of London.
        1661.
        County: London
        Country: England
        27 Nov 1661 Thomas Pomfrett, of Luton, co. Beds, Clerk, Bachelor, & Catherine Dobson, Spinster, dau. of William Dobson, late of St Andrew's, Holborn, London, decd; at St Mary, Savoy, Middlesex.