Heraldic Antiquarianism: the early work of Thomas Barritt of Manchester

Abstract

First paragraph: There is relatively little extant evidence of the work of Thomas Barritt (1743-1820) (Fig. 1), whose name has faded from the history of late Georgian antiquarianism. Information on his life is scant, and nothing is known of his education. Four later nineteenth-century articles in The Reliquary: Quarterly Archaeological Journal and Review form the nucleus of published material on the antiquary and provide some biographical details, including of his life-long occupation as a saddler, three marriages, and children, one of which, Thomas Barritt the Younger, fled to America because of Jacobite proclivities. We also know that a cork prosthetic replaced one of Barritt's legs which he lost at a young age.