George Heriot 1759-1839

Purchased from P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, 1952 (Greenwich with Tower of the Hospital);
Purchased from Christopher Powney, 1960 (Greenwich with Hospital Towers)

Canada (Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; McCord Museum, Montreal; Art Gallery of Windsor, Ontario; Sigmund Samuel Canadiana Gallery, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto), George Heriot, 12th November 1978 - 14th July 1979, nos.21 & 22

George Heriot was born at Haddington and studied in Edinburgh before entering the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. Paul Sandby was Drawing Master at this time and Heriot studied with him. Whilst Heriot was there he filled his sketch-books with wash drawings of Greenwich and studies of flora and fauna. When he left he joined the colonial service and in 1791 was posted to Quebec. He was attached there to the army Paymaster's Office and rose to be Deputy Postmaster-General for British North America. Whilst in Canada he had the job of inspecting all the post offices from Halifax to the Detroit River, and he took sketch-books with him, working the sketches up to finished watercolours on his return to Quebec. Some formed the basis for the illustrations in his famous Travels through the Canadas of 1807 which remains an important record of early life in Canada. On his return to England in 1816 he travelled extensively on the continent and to the Channel Islands.