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Bird, Edward
(b Wolverhampton, 2 April 1772; d Bristol, 2 Nov 1819). English painter. He was the son of a carpenter, also named Edward Bird, and his wife Elizabeth. Educated at the Free Grammar School, Wolverhampton, he was then apprenticed as a decorator with the firm of Taylor & Jones, manufacturers of japanned wares made of papier mâché or tin coated with black varnish in imitation of Oriental lacquer and sometimes painted with elaborate scenes. This training was probably responsible for his rapid painting technique and the impure colour and inadequate finish frequently remarked on by contemporary writers. At the age of 22, after unsuccessfully attempting to establish himself as an independent artist, he left Wolverhampton for Bristol at the invitation of the amateur artist Thomas Corser. Following a brief period in the Bristol japanned goods industry, he set up a practice as a drawing-master, which he continued to his death. About 1794 he married Martha, daughter of the engraver John Dodrell.
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