WD959-961

ALEXANDER, WILLIAM (1767-1816)

Born at Maidstone, 1767, Alexander became a student at the Royal Academy Schools in 1784. At the age of 25 he was attached to Lord Macartney's embassy to China as official draftsman. The expedition sailed from England in September 1792 and returned September 1794. Throughout this time Alexander kept a journal (British Library Add.Ms.35174) and made numerous sketches. The largest collections are in the India Office Library, the British Museum and the Maidstone Museum. After his return, engravings were made from his drawings for Sir George Staunton, ‘An Authentic account of an embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of’ China (London, 1797), John Barrow, ‘Travels in China’ (London, 1804) and ‘Voyage to Cochin China’ (London, 1806), and for his own ‘Views of headlands, islands, etc., taken during a voyage to China’ (London, 1798), ‘The Costume of China’ (London, 1805) and ‘Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese’ (London, 1814).

In 1802 Alexander became Professor of Drawing at the Military College at Great Marlow, and in 1808 first Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum with the style and rank of Assistant Keeper of the Antiquities department. He made drawings ‘for Descriptions of ancient marbles and terracottas in the British Museum’ (4 vols, London, 1810).In 1813 he produced’ Dress and manners of the Austrians.’

Bibliography: G. Reynolds, 'Alexander and Chinnery in China', ‘The Geographical Magazine,’ xx, no.5, September 1947, 203-8; E.H. Pritchard, 'The instructions of the East India Company to Lord Macartney on his embassy to China and his reply to the Company, 1792-94', ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ 1938, parts ii, iii, and iv; J.L. Cranmer-Byng, 'Lord Macartney's embassy to Peking in 1793 from official Chinese documents', ‘Journal of Oriental Studies, University of Hongkong,’ iv, nos.1-2, 1957-58, 117-87; J.L. Cranmer-Byng, ‘An Embassy to China’ (London, 1962); Mildred Archer, 'From Cathay to China', ‘History Today,’ December 1962,, 864-71, reproducing WD959 f.12 (63); 961 ff.26 (77), 47(129), 66v (190), 69 (211), 74(232); ‘An English artist in imperial China,’ The Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery and Museums, Brighton, 1981.

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WD959-961

3 volumes containing 870 drawings of landscapes, coastlines, costumes and everyday life made during Lord Macartney's embassy to the Emperor of China. Between 1792 and 1794.

With a few exceptions all the drawings are by Alexander. Most drawings are inscribed with titles in ink.

Pencil, pen-and-ink, wash, and water-colour; size of volumes, 22.5 by 17 ins; size of drawings varies from 3.5 by 5 ins to 19.5 by 13 ins.

Deposited with the East India Company, early nineteenth century.

Note: Certain drawings were used or adapted for engravings in Staunton, ‘op. cit.’ These drawings were mounted in two volumes in the early nineteenth century and numbered by the Library. They were listed in 1832 (See Mss Eur D562/13’).’ The volumes have since been rebound in three volumes, but the original arrangement and numbering of the drawings have been retained. The volumes have again been rebound (1992-4) and the backs of certain of the drawings revealed for the first time. These are included below in square brackets.