482
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. n. DEC. 17, UOA.
dwelt for a while in the Strand, but eventu-
ally returned to Berwick Street, and there,
at No. 33, "the dwelling house of Robert
Watson," he died in the summer of 1799. By
will, dated 24 February of that year, he gave
to his sister Elizabeth Dean the
"sum of twenty-five pound three p.c. Consols with
the interest due thereon with whatever real or
personal property he might possess for the benefit
of his two children Mary Ann and MizLabethJ
Dean trusting to her well-known love of them with-
out any controul/'
The will was proved on 29 August following (P.C.C. 583, Howe). I think Dean's good sister may be identical with the " Miss Dean " who exhibited a work at the Royal Academy in 1778.
John Dixon, an Irishman, came over to England after dissipating a small patrimony. With the Society of Artists he exhibited twenty examples of his art during the years 1766-75. In 1769 he was living in Broad Street, opposite Poland Street, Carnaby Market; but in 1771 he rented a house in a row in Chelsea which had been built by Nicholas Kempe, bullion porter to the Mint, and was called after him Kempe's Row. In conjunction with Sir Thomas Robinson, Kempe was one of the original proprietors of Ranelagh Gardens, which were contiguous to the grounds of his house in Ranelagh Walk, Chelsea. He married, as his second wife, Ann, the elder daughter of Henry Meriton, of Chelsea, an eccentric gentleman, who, dying at the patriarchal age of ninety, in April, 1757, requested to be buried " without any com- pany invited in the chappell in his Green- house Garden " (will in P.C.C. 130, Herring). The second Mrs. Kempe was a famous beauty, much admired by Romney, who painted her with a pug dog in her lap. Dixon's hand- some presence and engaging manners made him a welcome guest at his landlord's house, and after Kempe's death in 1774 (will in P.C.C. 233, Bargrave), his widow bestowed her hand on the fascinating Irishman. They were married at St. George's, Hanover Square, on 15 July, 1775 ('Registers,' ed. Harl. Soc., i. 254). At his wife's request Dixon ceased to practise his art as a profession. On her death he had an addition made to his income in a bequest from her sister Miss Henrietta Maria Meriton. He then went to reside at 5 (afterwards at 14) Lower Phillimore Place, Kensington, and busied himself in the pro- motion of a scheme for establishing a national fishery on the south, west, and north-west coasts of Ireland, particularly on the Nymph Bank, as the " most immediate and effectual relief for the poor of these kingdoms." For the
furtherance of this desirable object he pub-
lished five letters during the years 1800-4.
Dixon joined the Society of Arts in 1801, andi
retained his membership until his death in
December, 1811. His will was proved in
the following January (P.C.C. 11, Oxford).
Some interesting jottings concerning him,
written from personal knowledge, are to be
found in Arnold's Library of the Fine Arts:
for July, 1832 (iv. 14-16) ; while Mrs. Bray,
who was Nicholas Kempe's granddaughter,,
has given a pleasing, though inaccurate
sketch of him in her 'Autobiography '(pp. 48,
62-4). See also Gent. Mag. for June, 1823,
p. 604.
Robert Dunkarton. I take him to be the son of the Robert Dunkerton (sic) who- married, at St. George's Chapel, May fair, on 12 August, 1746, Mrs. Hannah Burrel, both being of the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Field ('Register,' ed. Harl. Soc., p. 67). He was born in 1747, and became a pupil of William Pether (Ackermann's 'Repository of Arts/ &c., v. 65). As a student his career was un- usually brilliant. During seven successive- years (1761-7) he was awarded premiums- for his drawings by the Society of Arts. In the last-named year (1767) he came out first on the list of prize-winners for his mezzotint of a head, William Dickinson and Samuel Okey being placed second and third re- spectively. In 1774 he was living at No. 35,. Strand, but by 1778 he had removed to No. 452. Besides practising as an engraver, he took portraits in crayons, exhibiting four pictures with the Society of Artists, and nineteen at the Royal Academy, during the years 1768-79. For Turner's ' Liber Studio- rum ' Dunkarton engraved five plates : ' Hind- head Hill,' 'The Hindoo Worshipper/ 'Young Anglers/ 'The Water-mill,' and 'Rispah.' I note in passing that one Robert Dunkarton was admitted a poor brother of the Charter- house on 28 June, 1780, died on 4 June, 1797, aged seventy-three, and was buried at Hornsey ('Register/ ed. Harl. Soc., p. 63). The en- graver's father must have died about this time, as Dunkarton administered to his estate (under 100.) on 24 May, 1798. In the act the elder Robert Dunkarton is described as- "late of the parish of Saint Martin-in-the- fields, in the county of Middlesex, a widower, deceased"; while his son is called his "only child " (Register of Consistory Court of Lon- don, 1798, f. 309). The engraver himself died in the beginning of 1815. He made his will on 21 January, 1801, describing himself as "of the Strand, in the parish of St. Martin- in-the-Fields, mezzo tinto engraver." The will was proved (under 200? ) on 2 February, 1815^
