Strickland, who was resident in Sydney, but to Dalley undoubtedly belongs the credit of carrying out the project. He instantly telegraphed to the home government offering two batteries of artillery and a battalion of infantry, four hundred strong, to serve in Egypt. The offer was accepted by the home government with some modifications, and occasioned considerable enthusiasm in England and Australia, although in Sydney Parkes vehemently censured Dalley's action. In Australia a patriotic fund was started for equipping the troops, by which 50,000l. was raised in a few days. On 3 March a contingent of nine hundred men sailed under Colonel Richardson, a Crimean veteran.
The ministry resigned office early in October 1885, and in June 1887 Dalley, who had refused knighthood and also the succession to the chief-justiceship on the death of Sir James Martin [q. v.], was appointed a member of the privy council, the first Australian statesman to receive that honour. He died at his residence at Darling Point, Sydney, on 28 Oct. 1888, and was buried in the Waverley cemetery on 30 Oct. He married a daughter of William Long, a merchant of Sydney, and left three sons. A medallion portrait by Sir Edgar Boehm was erected in St. Paul's Cathedral by public subscription, and was unveiled by Lord Rosebery on 17 July 1890. A marble bust by Cavalieri Attilio Simonetti is in the chamber of the legislative council of New South Wales.
Dalley had considerable literary ability, and contributed to several Sydney periodicals, especially to the 'Morning Herald.' Most of his sketches and articles were reprinted by George Burnett Barton in 1866 in 'The Poets and Prose Writers of New South Wales' (pp. 164-91).
[Sydney Morning Herald, 29,31 Oct., 1 Nov. 1888; Melbourne Argus, 29 Oct. 1888; Beaton's Australian Dict. 1879; Mennell's Dict. of Australian Biogr. 1892; Times, 5 Nov. 1888, 18 July 1890; Annual Register, 1885; Parkes's Fifty Years in the Making of Australian History, 1892, i. 155-8, 175-6, 329, 333, ii. 139-144, 386; Lyne's Life of Parkes, 1897, index; Hutchinson and Myers's Australian Contingent, 1885; Barton's Literature in New South Wales, 1866, pp. 46-7; Buchanan's Political Portraits.]
DALTON, RICHARD (1715?–1791), draughtsman, engraver, and librarian to the king, born about 1715, was the younger son of the Rev. John Dalton of Whitehaven in Cumberland. His elder brother, the Rev. John Dalton, D.D., was rector of St. Mary-at-Hill, London, and of some note as a divine (cf. Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886). Dalton, who was trained as an artist, and went to Rome to pursue his studies, in 1749 travelled with Roger Kynaston and John Frederick to Naples, South Italy, and Sicily, where they joined a party consisting of James Caulfeild, earl of Charlemont [q.v.], Francis Pierpoint Burton, and others. From thence Dalton accompanied Lord Charlemont on his tour to Constantinople, Greece, and Egypt. He was the first Englishman to make drawings of the monuments of ancient art in these countries. Some of these he etched and engraved himself. A 'Selection from the Antiquities of Athens' was the first publication of its kind, but it was quickly put into the shade by the more accurate and trustworthy publications of James Stuart (1713-1788) [q. v.] and Nicholas Revett [q. v.] Dalton published some other sets of engravings of 'Monuments, Manners, Customs, &c.,' in Turkey and Egypt, but his drawings and engravings are of little value from either an artistic or an antiquarian point of view.
Dalton managed to obtain the position of librarian to George III when prince of Wales, and, after the king's accession, was continued in his post through the favour of the earl of Bute. He was subsequently appointed keeper of the pictures and antiquarian to his majesty. He was the first artist to engrave the famous series of portraits drawn by Hans Holbein, which had been discovered by Queen Caroline at Kensington Palace, but neither these etchings nor a set on a larger scale published by him a few years later have any artistic merit. Dalton was sent abroad to purchase works of art for the king, and at Venice in 1763 made acquaintance with Francesco Bartolozzi [q.v.], the engraver, and obtained for him an introduction to England as a rival to Sir Robert Strange [q. v.], who did not shrink from accusing Dalton of using undue influence with the king in order to assist Bartolozzi. Dalton was one of the original committee who in 1755 drew up the first project for the establishment of a Royal Academy of Fine Arts in England. He was one of the original members of the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1765, and became their treasurer. He purchased a large house in Pall Mall, to be used as a print warehouse; but as this did not succeed he established there the first nucleus of an academy of arts, under the protection of the king, and induced the former academy in St. Martin's Lane to transfer its students and its paraphernalia thither. The scheme was, however, of short duration, and Dalton disposed of the premises to James Christie (1731–1803) [q. v.],
