Charles and John Trevithick
English, dated 1843
Watercolor on paper, in a birds eye maple frame behind glass, 22 ½ x 17 ½ inches

A note and very old label attached to the back of this frame identifies the subjects as Charles and John Trevithick, a gift from their father to their mother in 1843. Charles (1838-1911) and John (1840-1899) were born to John Harvey Trevithick (1807-1877) and Charlotte Jane Stewart (1816-1823) in Cornwall, England. Their father was a corn merchant. However, their more famous grandfather was Richard Trevithick (1771-1833), a British mechanical engineer and inventor who successfully harnessed high-pressure steam and constructed the world’s first steam railway locomotive in 1803.

Charles married Elizabeth Belling Harvey (b. 1838) and was, like his father, a corn merchant, in the town of Hale in Cornwall. He died on November 9, 1911 and is buried in St. Ertyh Churchyard in Cornwall. John married Jane Cole (1847-1934) and was a flower merchant at Hale in Cornwall. He died on December 6, 1899 and is also buried in Almorah Cemetery at St Helier, Bailiwick of Jersey.