HERRING, FRANCIS, M.D. (d. 1628), physician, a native of Nottinghamshire, was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge (B.A. 1585, M.A. 1589). On 3 July 1599, being then a doctor of medicine of Cambridge of two years' standing, he was admitted a fellow of the College of Physicians. He was censor in 1609, 1618, 1620, 1623, 1624, 1626, and 1627. He was named an elect on 5 June 1623, and died in the beginning of 1628. He translated from the Latin of J. Oberndoerffer, ‘The Anatomyes of the True Physition and Counterfeit Mounte-banke: wherein both of them are graphically described, and set out in their Right and Orient Colours,’ 4to, London, 1602. He took occasion to add, by way of appendix, ‘A short Discourse, or Discouery of certaine Stratagems, whereby our London-Empericks haue bene obserued strongly to oppugne, and oft times to expugne their Poore Patients Purses.’ Herring's other writings are: 1. ‘In fœlicissimum … Jacobi primi, Angliæ … Regis, … ad Anglicanæ Reip. gubernacula Ingressum, Poema Gratulatorium,’ 4to, London, 1603. 2. ‘A modest Defence of the Caveat given to the wearers of impoisoned Amulets, as Preservatives from the Plague. … Likewise that unlearned … opinion, that the Plague is not infectious, … is … refuted by way of preface,’ 4to, London, 1604. 3. ‘Pietas Pontificia, seu, Conjurationis illius prodigiosæ, … in Jacobum … Regē … Novembris quinto, … 1605 … brevis adumbratio poetica,’ 4to [London], 1606. An English verse translation by A. P. was published with the title of ‘Popish Pietie’ in 1610. 4. ‘Pietas Pontificia … ab authore recognita … Accessit Venatio Catholica sive secunda Historiæ pars, &c. (In Jesuitas Epigramma, &c.) [With other pieces in verse],’ 8vo, London, 1609. Under the title of ‘Mischeefes Mysterie’ both parts of Herring's poem on the Gunpowder plot, with ‘A Psalme of Thankesgiving,’ ‘An Epigram against Jesuites,’ &c., were translated into English and ‘very much dilated’ by John Vicars, 4to, London, 1617, of which another edition, entitled ‘The Quintessence of Cruelty,’ appeared in 1641. 5. ‘Certaine Rules, Directions or Advertisements for this time of Pestilentiall Contagion: with a Caveat to those that weare about their Neckes impoisoned Amulets as a Preservative from the Plague … reprinted … Whereunto is added certaine directions for the poorer sort of people,’ 4to, London, 1625. Another edition, entitled ‘Preservatives against the Plague,’ was published in 1665.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. 1878, i. 116; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
HERRING, JOHN FREDERICK (1795–1865), animal-painter, was born in Surrey in 1795. Herring spent the first eighteen years of his life in the city of London, where his father, an American whose parents were Dutch, was a fringe-maker in Newgate Street. As a child he showed an aptitude for handling both whip and pencil. Having married against his father's wishes, he went, without settled plans, to Doncaster, where he arrived during the races in September 1814, and saw the Duke of Hamilton's horse William win the St. Leger. The sight inspired him to attempt the art of animal-painting, in which he subsequently excelled. At first he did not succeed as an animal-painter, but executed some satisfactory work in coach-painting, which led him to aspire to drive a coach. For two years he drove the ‘Nelson’ coach from Wakefield to Lincoln. He was afterwards transferred to the Doncaster and Halifax coach. While he was engaged on that road, his artistic powers, which he continually exercised, were discovered and appreciated, and he received many commissions to paint horses for gentlemen in the neighbourhood. In spite of increasing success as a painter of horses, he refused to hurriedly abandon his calling as coachman, and for some time drove the ‘Highflyer’ coach between London and York. When eventually he retired from the road and settled at Doncaster, he immediately obtained very numerous commissions. It was as the portrait-painter of racehorses that Herring earned his especial fame, and no great breeder or owner of racehorses is without some treasured production of Herring's brush. He painted Filho da Puta, the winner of the St. Leger in 1815, and for the following thirty-two years painted each winner in succession. He painted Mameluke, the winner of the Derby in 1827, and several other winners in later years. Herring had no education in art until he definitely set up as an artist, when he worked for a short time in the studio of Abraham Cooper, R.A. He painted an immense number of racing, coaching, and other sporting subjects, many of which were published by the sporting printsellers and the sporting magazines. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy and the Society of British Artists; he was elected a member of the latter society in 1841. In
