of the Gynandria, Monœcia, Diœcia, and Polygamia in the other classes. Withering died on 6 Oct. 1799, it being wittily said during his long illness that ‘the flower of physicians is indeed Withering.’ He was buried at Edgbaston old church, where his monument bears a bust and is ornamented with the foxglove, which he did much to introduce into the pharmacopœia, and with Witheringia, a genus of Solanaceæ dedicated to his honour by L'Héritier. The fine portrait of Withering painted by Charles Frederick von Breda in 1792 was engraved by W. Bond as a frontispiece to the ‘Miscellaneous Tracts,’ as well as by Ridley for Thornton's collection. Withering married, on 12 Sept. 1772, Helena, only child of George Cookes of Stafford, by whom he had two children, who survived him—William (1775–1832) and Charlotte.
His chief works, in addition to those already sufficiently described, were:
- ‘Dissertatio Inauguralis de Angina Gangrænosa,’ Edinburgh, 1766.
- ‘A Botanical Arrangement of all the Vegetables naturally growing in Great Britain,’ London, 1776, 2 vols. 8vo; 2nd edit., much improved by Dr. Jonathan Stokes, Birmingham, 3 vols., vols. i. and ii. 1787, vol. iii. 1792; 3rd edit., Birmingham, 1796, 4 vols.; 4th edit., enlarged by William Withering the younger, London, 1801, 4 vols.; 5th edit., ‘corrected and considerably enlarged,’ Birmingham, 1812, 4 vols.; 6th edit., London, 1818, 4 vols.; 7th edit., London, 1830, 4 vols.; another edit., ‘corrected and condensed’ by William Macgillivray, London, 1830, 4to (3rd edit. of this abbreviation, London, 1835, 8vo); 8th edit., London, 1852, 8vo.
- ‘An Account of the Scarlet Fever and Sore Throat, or Scarlatina Anginosa,’ 1778; 2nd edit. 1793. 4. ‘An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses,’ 1785, 8vo.
[Memoir by his son prefixed to Miscellaneous Tracts, London, 1822, 8vo; Colvile's Worthies of Warwickshire, 1870, 4to.]
WITHERINGTON, WILLIAM FREDERICK (1785–1865), landscape-painter, was born in Goswell Street, London, on 26 May 1785. At school and afterwards in business he cultivated a taste for drawing, and at length, in 1805, became a student at the Royal Academy, though he did not decide till some time later to become a painter by profession. In 1808 he exhibited his first picture, ‘Tintern Abbey,’ at the British Institution, and made his first appearance at the Royal Academy in 1811, with two views of Hartwell, Buckinghamshire. He remained a constant contributor to the Royal Academy exhibitions till the year of his death, sending 138 pictures in all, in addition to sixty-two at the British Institution. He also exhibited for several years in succession at the Birmingham Society of Arts, founded in 1821. His early pictures were principally landscapes, but he varied them with such subjects as ‘Lavinia,’ ‘The Soldier's Wife,’ ‘Sancho Panza,’ and ‘John Gilpin.’ In 1830 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. He had lived hitherto chiefly in London, but his health failed about this time, and he was compelled to spend several months of each year in the country, chiefly in Kent.
In 1840 he became an academician. Henceforth he employed his renewed health and vigour in painting views in Devonshire, the lake country, Wales, and other parts of England, though Kent was still his favourite county. His pictures are simple unaffected studies of English scenery, varied with incidents of country life, in which the figures are well painted. Two of his best known works, ‘The Hop Garland,’ engraved by H. Bourne, and ‘The Stepping Stones,’ engraved by E. Brandard, were presented to the National Gallery as part of the Vernon collection in 1847, but they are among the pictures temporarily on loan to other galleries. ‘The Hop Garden’ (1834), one of his best works, is in the Sheepshanks collection at the South Kensington Museum. ‘Angling,’ ‘The Beggar's Petition,’ and several other pictures have been engraved. There is a lithograph, ‘The Young Anglers,’ by Witherington himself. He died at Mornington Crescent, London, on 10 April 1865.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Exhibition Catalogues; Times, 15 April 1865.]
WITHEROW, THOMAS (1824–1890), Irish divine and historian, son of Hugh Witherow, a farmer at Aughlish, near Dungiven, Londonderry, by Elizabeth Martin, was born at Ballycastle on 29 May 1824. He received his early education at Ralliagh church school, whence he passed to the care of James Bryce (1806–1877) [q. v.], and, later on, successively to the Academy and the Royal Academical Institution in Belfast. In 1839 he entered the collegiate department of the latter seminary, and here, with the exception of a session at Edinburgh, all his college days were spent. In 1845 he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Glendermot, and in 1845 ordained at Maghera, Londonderry, by the presbytery of Magherafelt as colleague to Charles Kennedy. He proved himself a most able and faithful
