Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Barlow, Thomas Oldham
BARLOW, Thomas Oldham, R.A., was born at Oldham, near Manchester, Aug. 4, 1824. From a very early age his desire was to be a painter or an engraver. His father yielded to his wish, and placed him with Messrs. Stephenson and Royston, engravers, of Manchester. He became a student in the School of Design there, and gained the first prize for a design, exhibited under the title of "Cullings from Nature." At the Manchester Exhibition he saw a small picture, by the late John Phillip, entitled "Courtship," and endeavoured to persuade a friend to purchase it, that he might engrave it before going to London; but this he was reluctantly obliged to abandon. Soon after coming to London, he made the acquaintance of a gentleman, who suggested his engraving a picture, and offered to supply the necessary means. He therefore went to the first exhibition that was opened—that of the British Institution—where, to his delight, the first picture that caught his eye was the one he had desired to engrave in Manchester. This introduced him to the late John Phillip, whose first copyright Mr. Barlow purchased for £5, Mr. Phillip having at first refused to take anything for it; and thus began their well-known friendship. Indeed, their similarity of taste and feeling was so marked, that they seemed inseparable. This intimacy and sympathy naturally resulted in Mr. Barlow engraving most of Phillip's pictures. Mr. Barlow was elected an Associate Engraver of the Royal Academy by an almost unanimous vote in 1873. The following are some of the principal works engraved by Mr. Barlow:—After John Phillip, R.A., "Courtship," "Spanish Gipsy Mother," "Prayer in Spain," "Augustus Egg, R.A.," "H.R.H. the Prince Consort," "The House of Commons, 1860," " Doña Pepita," " Seville," "The Prison Window," "Prayer," "La Gloria, a Spanish Wake," "Dolores," "Faith," "Breakfast in the Highlands;" after James Sant, R.A., "Mother and Child;" after F. W. Topham, "Making Nets;" after W. P. Frith, R.A., "Charles Dickens;" after Henrietta Browne, "Sisters of Mercy;" after Sir G. Kneller, "Sir Isaac Newton;" after H. Wallis, "The Death of Chatterton;" and after J. E. Millais, R.A., "The Huguenot," "My First Sermon," "My Second Sermon," "Awake," "Asleep," "John Fowler, Esq., C.E.," "Sir James Paget, Bart.," "The Duke of Westminster," " Sir Sterndale Bennett," " Effie Deans," "A Jersey Lily," "Mr. Gladstone," "The Bride of Lammermoor," " Mr. John Bright," "Mr. Tennyson;" after Sir E. Landseer, R.A., "The Little Strollers;" after D. Maclise, R.A., "Dr. R. Quain, F.R.S." Mr. Barlow was elected a Royal Academician Engraver May 5, 1881.