history books, drawings, and paintings, with the manuscript of his ‘Pinax,’ were left to the library of the ‘Physic Garden’ at Oxford, the rest of his library to St. John's College.
Sherard occupied a high position among the botanists of his time, and his intercourse with the leading men in the science was intimate and frequent. He possessed a good knowledge for the time of cryptogamous plants. He was generous in distributing seeds and dried plants, and was an unfailing patron of deserving naturalists; but while aiding others in their works, he wrote little himself. Only one work, and that published under initials, came from his pen, viz., ‘Schola Botanica, sive catalogus plantarum quas ab aliquot annis in Horto Regio Parisiensi studiosis indigitavit … J. P. Tournefort … ut et P. Hermanni … Paradisi Batavi Prodromus, in quo plantæ … recensentur. Edente in lucem S. W. A. [i. e. Sherardo Wilhelmo Anglo],’ 12mo, Amsterdam, 1689. He contributed papers to the Royal Society (Phil. Trans. 1700–21) on ‘the way of making several China varnishes;’ on ‘the strange Effects of the Indian Varnish, wrote by Dr. J. del Papa;’ on ‘a new Island raised near Sant' Erini;’ and on ‘the Poyson Tree in New England.’
He edited the manuscript and wrote a preface for Paul Hermann's ‘Paradisus Batavus,’ 4to, Leyden, 1698; he also assisted Vaillant with his ‘Botanicon Parisiense,’ and Ray with the concluding volume of the ‘Historia Plantarum,’ in which were included his ‘Observations’ on the first two volumes. Sherard's manuscript, endorsed by Ray, is preserved in the botanical department at the Natural History Museum; while the third edition of Ray's ‘Synopsis’ was published by Dillenius under Sherard's inspection. To Catesby he supplied the names of the plants in his ‘Natural History of Carolina,’ besides giving pecuniary assistance. He likewise helped the Sicilian botanist, Paolo Boccone. Vaillant, Pontedera, and Dillenius each named different plants Sherardia in his honour, and Dillenius's appellation was adopted by Linnæus.
[Journ. Bot. 1874, pp. 129 sq. (with notes and manuscripts kindly lent by the author of that article, B. D. Jackson); Gent. Mag. 1796, ii. 811; Pulteney's Hist. and Biogr. Sketches, ii. 141; Nichols's Illustr. Lit. i. 339, &c.; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. i. 272, 320, iii. 652–4; Martyn's Dissertations on Virgil, pp. xl–xli; Chishull's Antiq. Asiat. pref.; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. iv. 713; Wilson's Hist. of Merchant Taylors' School; Boccone's Museo di Piante, pref.]
SHERATON, THOMAS (1751–1806), furniture maker and designer, was born at Stockton-upon-Tees in 1751, and learnt the trade of cabinet-making. He received no regular education, but showed from the first natural artistic learning, and taught himself drawing and geometry. He was a zealous baptist, and first came before the public as author of a religious work, ‘A Scriptural Illustration of the Doctrine of Regeneration,’ which appeared at Stockton in 1782, 12mo. He was styled on the title-page ‘Thomas Sheraton, junior,’ and described himself as a mechanic. His interest in theology never diminished.
As a practical cabinet-maker he does not seem to have attained much success; but as a designer of furniture he developed a skill and originality which placed him in the first rank of technical artists. Removing to Soho, London, about 1790, he began the publication of a series of manuals of furniture design to which the taste of his countrymen still stands deeply indebted. His first publication was a collection of eighty-four large folio plates entitled ‘Designs for Furniture,’ n.d. In 1791 he produced ‘The Cabinet-maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book’ (with ‘Accompaniment’ and ‘Appendix’ within the two following years), 4to, with 111 plates; the second edition (1793–6) had 119 plates; the third edition (1802) was ‘revised and the whole embellished with 122 elegant copper-plates.’ This last edition is rare. A reprint, undated, was lately issued by Mr. B. T. Batsford. In 1803 he published ‘The Cabinet Dictionary, or Explanation of all Terms used in the Cabinet, Chair, and Upholstery Branches,’ 1 vol. in 15 parts. Next year he began the issue of ‘The Cabinet-maker and Artist's Encyclopædia’ (fol.), which was to be completed in 125 numbers, but he lived to publish only thirty.
In London Sheraton apparently wholly occupied himself with his literary and artistic publications. All were published by subscription, and he travelled as far as Ireland in search of subscribers, who included, besides persons of rank, the leading cabinet-makers of the country. None of his publishing ventures proved financially successful, and, though his designs were regarded in his own day with ‘superstitious admiration,’ he lived in poverty. He eked out an income by teaching drawing. To the last he occasionally preached in baptist chapels. In 1794 an essay by him, entitled ‘Spiritual Subjection to Civil Government,’ was appended to Adam Callander's ‘Thoughts on the Peaceable and Spiritual Nature of Christ's Kingdom;’ the essay was reprinted separately next year.
