Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Everitt, Allen Edward
EVERITT, ALLEN EDWARD (1824–1882), artist, born in Birmingham in 1824, was the son of Edward Everitt, an art dealer in Birmingham, and grandson of Allen Everitt a well-known Birmingham artist and drawing-master. His maternal grandfather was David Parkes, the Shropshire antiquarian. Everitt early showed that he had inherited all the artistic faculties of his parents. He received lessons in early life from David Cox [q. v.] His special talent soon showed itself to be the illustration of old buildings and interiors. Taking Birmingham as a centre, he made careful drawings of almost every spot in the midlands which possessed archæological or historical interest. Between the age of thirty and forty he made painting tours in the old towns of Belgium, France, and Germany. After this he devoted himself more especially to studies of interiors, his work being executed mainly in water-colour.
In 1857 Everitt joined the Royal Society of Artists of Birmingham, of which he became in 1858 hon. secretary, a post which he held till his death. He had an important connection as drawing-master in the midlands. For many years he taught drawing at the Birmingham Deaf and Dumb Institution, of which he was also virtually the secretary. In 1870 the archæological section of the Midland Institute was formed, and Everitt was appointed one of the hon. secretaries, contributing papers to its ‘Transactions’ on ‘Aston Church,’ ‘Handsworth Church and its Surroundings,’ ‘Archæological Researches Ten Miles round Birmingham,’ ‘Northfield Church,’ ‘Hampton-in-Arden,’ ‘Old Houses in the Midlands,’ &c. Everitt was also for some time a member of the general council of the institute. In June 1880 he accepted the post of honorary curator of the Birmingham Free Art Gallery, a municipal institution which has since become one of the most important in England.
In 1854 Everitt completed an important series of drawings of Aston Hall, which were used to illustrate Davidson's ‘History of the Holtes of Aston, with a Description of the Family Mansion,’ published in the same year. He also illustrated J. T. Bunce's ‘History of Old St. Martin's,’ the parish church of Birmingham (1875).
In 1880 Everitt married Miss Hudson of Moseley. He died at Edgbaston, of congestion of the lungs, on 11 June 1882. His very large collection of sketches has become invaluable as a memorial of places many of which have already passed away.
[Birmingham Daily Post, 12 June 1882; Birmingham Gazette, same date; private information from friends.]