Nat Gould

Alfred Joseph Stothard 1794-1864

Alfred Joseph Stothard was born in 1794, the sixth son of Thomas Stothard and his wife nee Rebecca Watkins.

He married Sophia Pinheiro in 1860. She was born in 1796, the daughter of Joseph and Susanna Pinheiro, and baptised on 18 September 1796 at St. Mary Whitechapel at Stepney in London. She died at Islington in London in 1850.

Their children were:

Susanna Stothard. She was born in 1821.

Rebecca Jane Stothard. She was born on 13 February 1823, and baptised at St. Pancras Old Church on 15 April 1823.

Sophia Sarah Stothard. She was born on 15 April 1826 at Somers Town in London, and baptised at St. Pancras Old Church on 17 November 1829. Having trained at the Home and Colonial School in London, she became a noted teacher and educationalist. She died in 1901 at Auckland in New Zealand.

Maria C. Stothard. She was born in 1832. She was possibly the Mary Stothard recorded in the 1861 Census Return as single, born in London , and working as a schoolmistress at the Central London District School at Hanwell in Middlesex.

Phoebe Stothard. She was born in 1834, and died in 1853 aged nineteen years at Ratcliffe Row in London. She was buried on 25 January 1853, the service being held at St. Luke's church, Old Street in London.

Arthur Stothard. He was born in 1836 at Islington in London. He married Emma Sarah Comley (or Comely) in January 1858 at St. John the Evangelist church,Islington. She was born on 16 November 1823, the daughter of George William Comley and his wife nee Priscilla Abree, and baptised on 5 February 1824 at the church of St. Botolph without Aldgate in London. In 1861 Arthur Stothard was employed as a time keeper in an optician's factory.

Thomas Stothard. He was born in 1839 at Islington in London. He entered the teaching profession, and taught in elementary schools at a variety of locations in England until his eyesight failed in the 1890s. He died in Wiltshire in 1909 aged 70 years.

Their father Alfred Joseph Stothard was a sculptor but pre-eminently an engraver (1). He became medal engraver to King George IV (2) and notably to Queen Victoria. He was the son of Thomas Stothard, the portrait painter, and his wife nee Rebecca Watkins (3).

In 1841 and 1851 the family were living at 34 Upper Park Street, Islington in London.

He died on 6 October 1864 in London aged 76 years (4). His wife had predeceased him in 1850.

(1) Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : entry by Ruth Fry, which is a valuable and concise source of information. Available online at www.dnzb.govt.nz
(2) "Mr Alfred Stothard was appointed medallist to the late King George the Fourth, of whose head he executed a beautiful medal". Reminiscences of Stothard Part II in Blackwood's Magazine (1836) page 265.
(3) Life of Thomas Stothard, R.A. Anna Eliza Bray (1851) pages 21 and 42.
(4) " STOTHARD,- On the 6th inst., at 4, Durham Cottages, Durham-road, Mr. A.J. Stothard, medallist, sixth son of the late T. Stothard, Esq., R.A., aged seventy-six.": The Morning Post 11 October 1864. Also reported in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser 11 October 1864 and elsewhere. The report in the Kentish Chronicle on 22 October 1864 added the information that "Alfred Joseph Stothard has long been known as a medallist, especially by his reproduction of Chantrey's bust of Scott and of the heads of Byron and Canning. By lovers of his father it will not be forgotten that the recently deceased received the latest pressure of that father's hand, and waited upon his last hours. Thus another link between us and that most graceful of designers is broken."