Date : 08/12/2023 Lot 223
Mrs Richard Hardey (Hannah Maria Hudson) (Hull 1815-1865): George Earle (1782-1863) and Mary Foster - Half Length Portraits, pair oval oils on canvas, the latter signed and dated 1854 verso 74cm x 62cm (2)
Notes: Hannah Maria Hudson, daughter of Wesleyan Minister Revd. Benjamin Brook Hudson and his wife Hannah, was born in Dumfries in 1815, but soon moved to Barrow upon Humber where her father was a minister. She married Mr Richard Hardey (1816-1889) on 23rd April 1840 and the couple moved to Hull. Hannah worked as a talented, if relatively unknown, portrait painter, working under the name of 'Mrs Richard Hardey'. Sadly, Hannah developed breast cancer and died in January 1865, while Richard went on to work as a successful portrait photographer.
George Earle Jnr was the son of George Earle Snr (1748-1827), who migrated to Hull c.1777 and established himself as a stonemason, architect and speculative builder, and Mary Hargrave, daughter of stone mason and carver-gilder, Jeremiah Hargrave. George Jnr. married Mary Foster at St Mary's Church, Sculcoates on 19th February 1811, and, alongside his brother Thomas, established a business as Hull merchants who were, for a time, the town's leading importers of slate, stone, and Italian marble. In the 1851 census, he is listed as a 'Merchant, Ship Owner & Cement Manufacturer'. George Jnr's nephews Charles Foster Earle (1819-1870) and William Joel Earle (1824-1871) would go on to found C and W Earle (Earle's Shipbuilding) in 1845, having bought the Junction Foundry from James Livingston who built the first iron steam packet in 1831.
SOLD £650