Readhead, Henry

Introduction:

Painstakingly crafted on the underside of convex glass in the manner of stipple engraving, profiles by Cambridge-born HENRY READHEAD (1761-1824) are extremely rare. Though described by John Woodiwiss in his book 'BRITISH SILHOUETTES'  as among "...the finest profilists of his time", recent research suggests Readhead's artistic career was a brief speculation, likely undertaken due to his 1797 bankruptcy as a London-based perfumer.

Technically time-consuming and distinctive, all known profiles are bust-sized, with bust-line terminations generally showing downward peaks at the junction of arm and body, or at the arm's centre.

Faces were painted dead black, while masses of brownish dots applied by brushpoint, then trimmed with a needle, are painted on sitters' attire. Works are backed with card, housed in papier-mâché frames, some with verre églomisé borders. One signed 3-inch (75mm) x 2 1/2 inch (64mm) profile, set in its original shagreen travelling case is also recorded.

All trade labels were handwritten. Versions recorded are "Drawn by Mr. Readhead No. 54 Upper Norton Street: Fitzroy Square, London" and "Mr. Henry Readhead Profilist...[followed by the same address and]...Time of sitting 5 minutes".

In 2023 a sole advertisement was discovered in the CAMBRIDGE CHRONICLE of the 28th of July 1798. After mentioning his London address, Readhead acquainted "...the Nobility, Gentry and others of the University Town and County of Cambridge that he has arrived...for a short time and takes LIKENESSES in MINIATURE PROFILES...in a peculiar stile of neatness...[that]...have given universal satisfaction to...distinguished persons...in LONDON, HARROGATE, SCARBOROUGH, HULL &c, &c...".

Printed prices ranged from 10s 6d to 1 guinea. Sittings required 5 minutes, though given their complexity, works would have taken considerably longer to complete. Clients could "...if more agreeable..." be waited on at home. Specimens "...superior to anything of the kind yet offered to the Public" could be viewed at "MR. DEIGHTON'S bookseller or MR. D. READHEAD'S..." in Cambridge. Both men were Henry Readhead's relations. John Deighton (1748-1828) had married the profilist's sister Mary (1759-1819) in 1779. Daniel Readhead (1764-1808) was one of the profilist's 3 brothers.

All 3 brothers were apprenticed braziers, tinplate and copper workers to their paternal aunt's husband Jonathan Munn (ca.1720-1792). When, in 1790, he resigned his business to his nephews, they also inherited Munn's lucrative contracts to supply Cambridge colleges with lighting oil. Though Henry Readhead would later christen his first-born Jonathan Munn after his brazier uncle, he himself was apprenticed in a markedly different line of employment to his 3 brothers.

The 5th of 6 children born in Cambridge between 1753 and 1764 to William Readhead (dates N/K) and Margaret née Simpson (dec.1793) Henry seemingly evidenced musical abilities and in 1774, aged 13, was apprenticed to Kings College organist, composer and Doctor of Music John Randall (1716-1799). Though Readhead's obituary notice lists him an organist, no further evidence of this occupation has come to light.

In December 1783 Readhead wed Elizabeth Brincklow (born ca.1760) by licence at St.Marylebone, London. Elizabeth's given parish was St.Mary the Great, Cambridge. However, in 1769, she was apprenticed a milliner in London to possibly her sister Mary Logie Brincklow (born 1744) who, as Mary Blackler, witnessed the Readheads' marriage. Three months later, Elizabeth gave birth to Jonathan Munn (1784-1824), followed by Mary (1788-1794) and a 2nd son in 1794, whose registered name is today unreadable.

At some date unknown Readhead became a perfumer - an occupation that saw him and business partner Eliza Ward, both of 54 Upper Norton Street, listed bankrupts in the LONDON GAZETTE in December 1797. Creditors would receive dividends in January 1799.

Trading again by autumn that year, lengthy London and provincial newspaper advertisements promoted the cure-all "Neurotica and Pepticos Tincture...sealed with the Proprietors' Arms" offered from Upper Norton Street wholesale or retail at 10s 6d or 5s 6d per bottle. It was last advertised on the 19th of October 1805 in the CARLISLE JOURNAL.

Regarding the likely short duration of Readhead's profilist career, the single 1798 advertisement and no other suggests the burden of bankruptcy was the catalyst putting him on the road in Yorkshire and Cambridge that year and possibly in 1797. In addition, during his tenure there, Upper Norton Street, today's Bolsover Street, was at the limit of London's northward expansion. Away from a commercial hub, with passing trade for profiles unlikely, he would surely have needed to advertise. No evidence of this has been found, though Mrs. Redhead (sic) appears with no occupation listed at the address in HOLDENS 1802 directory.

A profile, formerly in Mrs. Neville Jackson's collection, bears, probably in her hand, dates of November 1791 and 1797, along with the Norton Street address and sitter's details. The earlier date is likely erroneous, as tax lists record Readhead in the street only between 1797-1804.

Readhead's penultimate record appears as a discharged debtor from London's Fleet Prison on 17th of March 1806. Whatever the debt, it was swiftly repaid as he is absent from any bankruptcy or insolvency listings.

While Henry Readhead disappears from records until 1824, his son Jonathan Munn, a Rotherhithe wharfinger, became bankrupt in 1820. Like his father, his debts were cleared within a year. Thereafter, like his paternal uncles, he became an 'oilman'. Declared insolvent in 1823, he died 5 months after his father in September 1824.

Interred as Henry Redhead (sic) at St. Martins in the Fields, London, on the 20th of April 1824, his obituary appeared 4 days earlier in the CAMBRIDGE CHRONICLE: "On Tuesday last...[13 April]...in London aged 64 Henry Readhead, Organist. Formerly of this place".

Revised 12 January 2024 (Brian Wellings)