Haden, Sir Francis Seymore (1818-1910: Knight etcher and surgeon)

Francis Seymore Haden Francis Seymour Haden was born in 1818 . He studied medicine at the Sorbonne and at Grenoble, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1857 . He formed a large private practice in London, England, from where he undertook much public work. He published pamphlets strongly opposing cremation but he devoted his leisure time to etching, especially landscapes, from around 1843 onwards. He was an influence on James Abbot McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) whose half sister, Deborah Whistler, he married. His chief works include 'Thames Fishermen', 'Shere Mill Pond' and Breaking up of the Agamemnon'. As well as engraving he also worked in water-colour and black chalk. He also pioneered the critical study of Rembrandt's etchings, publishing and The Etched Work of Rembrandt (1879)About Etching (1879).

Haden was founder and president of the Society of Painter Etchers in 1880, later the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers and he was knighted in 1894. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, between 1860 and 1885. The chief collections of his work are held at the British museum and the New York Public Library. He died in 1910 .

Source: The Concise Dictionary of National Biography 1901-1970, ii (OUP: Oxford, 1982)