Person
Watling, Thomas (1762 - c. 1814)
- Born
- 19 September 1762
Drumfriesshire, Scotland - Died
- c. 1814
- Occupation
- Artist
Summary
Thomas Watling was a convict who was transported to Sydney in 1791 for forgery. His artistic talents were used by the surgeon-general, John White, an ardent naturalist. Most of his surviving work is in the so-called Watling Collection in the zoological library of the British Museum (Natural History); many of the natural history drawings are extensively annotated in John White's hand.
Details
Chronology
- 1791
- Life event - Transported to Australia for forgery
- 1795
- Career position - Probably assigned to the judge-advocate David Collins
- 1796
- Life event - Conditional pardon received
- 1797
- Life event - Absolute pardon granted
- 1801 - 1803
- Career position - Miniature painter in Calcutta, India
- 1803 - c. 1806
- Career position - Artist in Scotland
Related entries
Archival resources
Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science
Published resources
Books
- Rienits, Rex and Rienits, Thea, Early Artists of Australia (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1963), 246 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Rienits, Rex, 'Watling, Thomas (1762-)' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Douglas Pike, ed., vol. 2 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1967), pp. 574-575. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020524b.htm. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q6233179. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/75042293. Details
- 'Watling, Thomas (1762-1762)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-618947. Details
Rosanne Walker
Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 21 August 2019