An aged parish clerk sitting with his dog outside his cottage in Devon. Etching by T.H. Williams, 1799.

He is described as a clerk, possibly in this sense: "the clerk, or parish clerk, is the lay officer of a parish church, who has charge of the church and precincts, and assists the clergyman in various parts of his duties, e.g. by leading the people in responses, assisting at baptisms, marriages, etc. " (Oxford English dictionary )

"The good man proudly owns a native cot, / Yon spreading elms mark out the peaceful spot, / Which his forefathers held; his garden bow'r / Yields summer shade, gives winter's sunny hour. There he sits oft, a patriarch in retreat / The while his dog is basking in the heat." -- John Bidlake, 'The summer's eve', London and Oxford 1800, part I

London : published by Murray & Co., Jan.y 1800.

1 print : etching ; platemark 19.8 x 13.7 cm

"--There he sits, a patriarch in retreat. Book 1st, page 51. T. Williams inven.t et etch.d 1799

"Williams, T, H., water-colour painter. Practised [in error for Born?] at Plymouth about the middle of the 18th century. He exhibited at the Academy between 1801-14 some views in Wales and Devonshire, and published in 1804 'Picturesque excursions in Devonshire and Cornwall' ["by T.H. Williams, Plymouth. Printed for J. Murray ... and J. Harding ..., 1804"; dedicated to Bidlake], for which he drew and etched the plates; also 'The environs of Exeter' [Picturesque excursions, in Devonshire. The environs of Exeter. By T.H. Williams, Plymouth. Part I. Containing a description of Fordland, Ugbrooke, Chudleigh, Watcombe, and Babicombe. With six etchings, Exeter: Hedgeland p. 1815] and 'A tour in the Isle of Wight', illustrated in the same manner."-- Samuel Redgrave, A dictionary of artists of the English school, London 1878, p. 475. Both Williams and Bidlake lived in Plymouth. In the preface to his 1799 publication 'The sea' (London: printed for T. Chapman, 1796), Bidlake described Williams as "an ingenious young artist"

"The etchings by Mr Williams are all local [to Devon], and were immediately sketched from Nature, selected from the beautiful scenery to be found near Plymouth, and do much credit to the taste of the artist, who is about to publish a series of views from this vicinity"--Bidlake, The summer's eve, op. cit., pp. iii-iv

Wellcome Collection 3042805i