John Feltham, Honiton, to. Ozias Humphrey Esq., corner of James Street, Piccadily, London, 24 November 1791.

Honiton 24:th Nov.r 1791

Dear Sir!

         As I am making a concise Topographical description of Honiton; I take the liberty to ask you if I may mention any thing of your intended present of a picture to Honiton Church---I should likewise thank you for your opinion of the singular situation of that building, with respect to the Town---or any other hint that may occur as I intend to send M.r Polwhele for his County His.y the account when completed, or otherwise convey it him, thro’ the medium of the Gents Mag: for Jan.y pr Feb/y next---I hope you are perfectly well: M.r Tucker & all friends are so here---none wou’d be deficient in Compliments did they know I was honoring myself by writing --- I am

                                 Dear Sir

                                             Your most obed.t

                                                         humble Ser.t

                                                                      John Feltham

Text: MS. Montague d. 7, fols. 171-72, Bodleian Library, Oxford; postmarked from Honiton, 25 November. Ozias Humphrey (1742-1810) was from a family of Humphreys who had lived many generations in Honiton, Devon.  His grandmother was Mary Upcott, daughter of the Rev. Ozias Upcott, Rector of Honiton from 1663 to 1699.  Humphrey was educated at All Hallows School under Richard Lewis, then at St. Martin’s Lane Academy, where he studied art.  He returned to Honiton upon the death of his father in 1759.  He painted a few portraits in Exeter, then removed to Bath in 1762 where he was apprenticed to Samuel Collins the miniature painter.  Upon Collins’ financial collapse in 1764, Humphrey was released of his articles and removed to London, where he was befriended by Sir Joshua Reynolds.  In 1766 King George III purchased a miniature by Humphrey, and soon thereafter commissioned minatures of the Queen and other members of the Royal Family.  The Duke of Dorset became Humphrey’s patron.  After a riding accident and a failure in love, Humphrey spent four years in Italy, returning in 1777.  He never married, but his illegitimate son, William Upcott (from whom this autograph collection originated) was born in 1779.  In 1785 Humphrey went to India, but his health broke down and he  returned in 1788.  He was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1791, the same year his eyesight reached the point that he could no longer paint miniatures.  He then became portrait painter in crayons to the King. By 1797, however, his eyesight had failed almost completely, and he no longer painted.  In died in Thornborough Street, London, 9 March 1810.  He was also an F.S.A.  Some of his portraits hand  in the National Gallery in London, and 37  portraits were engraved.  See Major W. H. Wilkin, “Five Honiton Worthies,” Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art 79 (1938), pp. 444-46; also George C. Williamson, Life and Works of Ozias Humphry (New York: John Lane, 1918).