William Westall

Painter and engraver.

No known connections with slavery.

During an expedition into the mountains near Bombay, Westall witnessed scenes of destitution and starvation. His chief servant acquired a boy from his parents, who hoped to save his life, for ‘a substantial meal and a few pounds of rice’. Upon their return to the coast, Westall, who remained on shore while the boat was being loaded, ‘put a previously formed project into effect: he drew some money from his pocket, and putting it into the young man’s hand, pointed to his native mountains. The language of nature was sufficient; with tears of joy and a look of astonishment and deep gratitude, the youth threw himself at his benefactor’s feet … his purchaser, standing on the deck of the vessel, looked at the scene with dismay, unable to interfere; contemplating the serous loss he had sustained, of a fine young fellow, whose value would have been fully appreciated in the slave-market’. (Robert Westall, ‘Memoir of William Westall, A.R.A.’, The Art-Journal, vol. 12, 1850, 104.)

Donor: bequeathed in 1851: NG1877 ( now at Tate, N01877).

History of Parliament Trust (ed.), The History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History, London 1964-, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
Checked and not found — Item on publisher's website

UCL Department of History (ed.), Legacies of British Slave-ownership, London 2020, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/
Checked and not found — Item on publisher's website

S. West, 'Westall family', in J. Turner et al. (eds), Grove Art Online, Oxford 1998-, https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T091238
Checked and found — Item on publisher's website

R. J. Westall, 'Westall, William', in C. Matthew et al. (eds), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford 1992-, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29107
Checked and found — Item on publisher's website