Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/438

 advocate of woman suffrage. Opposed to home rule, he joined the ranks of the liberal unionists in 1886 and was returned by a large majority in that interest in July 1886. He retired at the dissolution of 1892.

Corbett acquired from Lord Somers a large estate at Impney near Droitwich and from Athelston Corbet (no relation) a second estate near Towyn in Wales. On the Impney property he erected a residence in the style of a French chateau of the time of Francis I. A generous supporter of philanthropic institutions in the Midlands, Corbett presented Corbett Hospital to Stourbridge and Salters' Hall, a building capable of holding 1500 people, to Droitwich. He also contributed generously to the funds of Birmingham University, of which he was a governor, and of the Bromsgrove Cottage Hospital; he helped in the development of Droitwich as a health-resort by the erection of St. Andrew's Brine Baths (1889), and by the restoration of the old Raven Hotel and the building of the Worcester Hotel; he presented a church clock to Brierley Hill and placed memorial windows in the church there to his father and mother. To the development of Towyn he contributed by the erection of a fine esplanade and a massive sea-wall.

Corbett, who was an associate of the Institute of Civil Engineers, died at Impney on 22 April 1901.

Corbett married in April 1856 Anna Eliza, daughter of John O'Meara of county Tipperary, and had issue two sons and four daughters.

A bust was executed by E. Onslow Ford, R.A., and a presentation portrait by H. T. Wells, R.A., was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1895.

 CORBOULD, EDWARD HENRY (1815–1905), water-colour painter, born in London on 5 Dec. 1815, was son of Henry Corbould [q. v.], historical painter and draughtsman, and grandson of Richard Corbould [q. v.], portrait, landscape, and historical painter, and designer of book illustrations. He was a pupil of Henry Sass, and a student of the Royal Academy. In 1834, 1835, and 1836 he won gold medals of the Society of Arts, in 1834 with a water-colour of the 'Fall of Phaethon,' and in the last two years with models of 'St. George and the Dragon' (collection of Dr. Victor Corbould) and a 'Chariot Race, from Homer' (now in the possession of Mrs. G. H. Hey wood). His first exhibits in the Royal Academy in 1835 included a model ('Cyllarus and Hylonome'), but he did not pursue the art of sculpture for long. It is interesting, however, to note that in 1889, when the London corporation invited various artists to submit designs for four pieces of sculpture for Blackfriars bridge (a project never carried out), he produced four drawings of colossal groups, which are still in the possession of Dr. Victor Corbould. The main work of his life was in water-colour, in which he produced a large number of subjects illustrating literature (chiefly Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakespeare), history, and daily life. He continued to the end even in his larger subjects to paint in the careful stippled manner that is more adapted to miniature portrait and illustration; and only a small proportion of his pictures are in oil (e.g. 'The Canterbury Pilgrims,' R.A. 1874, in the possession of Dr. Victor Corbould). He started exhibiting at the New Water Colour Society (later the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours) in 1837, becoming a member of that body in the same year. One of the most important of his early exhibits at this society, 'The Canterbury Pilgrims assembled at the old Tabard Inn' (1840), is now at Norbury Park, Dorking. In 1842 his water-colour of 'The Woman taken in Adultery' was purchased by the Prince Consort, and nine years later he was appointed 'instructor of historical painting to the royal family.' He continued for twenty-one years teaching various members of the royal family, and many of his best works were acquired by Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and his royal pupils, e.g. an illustration of Tennyson's 'Morte d'Arthur' (now in Kensington Palace), presented by Queen Victoria to Princess Louise, and 'Henry VI welcomed to London after his Coronation in Paris,' and 'The Iconoclasts of Basle,' acquired by the Empress Frederick and still in the imperial collection, Berlin. Apart from the royal collections, one of the largest collections of his works was that of George Strutt of Belper. Corbould exhibited in all about 250 drawings at the Royal Institute, only retiring from active membership in 1898. He also produced a large number of designs (chiefly subjects of fancy and_romance) for 