Portrait of Arthur Howe Holdsworth, 1832

A lithograph of Arthur Howe Holdsworth, (1780-1860), by Maxim Gauci after E.U. Eddis, 1832.

A bust-length black and white lithograph of a white middle-aged male, positioned facing and looking out to the right. He wears a smart collared jacket over a dark waistcoat with three buttons and a white shirt with a dark neck-tie. His lips are faintly coloured pale peach, and the background is slightly shadowed. Printed text underneath the image on the left reads ‘E.U. Eddis del:’ and on the right reads ‘M. Gauci lith.’ Faint handwritten pencil on the bottom left of the page reads ‘Arthur Howe Holdsworth, the last Governor of Dartmouth Castle’.

It is likely the bottom of the print, which features additional publishing information, has been removed, as can be seen in similar examples held by the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, which read ‘ARTHUR HOLDSWORTH ESQr. M.P. London: Published June 15th 1832 by Colnaghi & Son, Pall Mall East. Printed by Graf & Soret, 14, Newman St.’

Arthur Howe Holdsworth (1780-1860) was born in Devon into an extremely wealthy mercantile and trading family, who held much power in Dartmouth and had done for centuries. He grew up in Widdicombe House, Stokenham and Mount Galpin, and following in his father’s footsteps became an active businessman and Member of Parliament (1802-1819, 1829-1832). He was also an inventor and engineer, designing a specialist roof for the mill at Warfleet and through his interest in ship building patented, amongst other things, an improved rudder for ships and watertight bulkheads. He was also a shareholder in the Bristol and Exeter Railway, constantly seeking ways to promote the local economy. His family’s stronghold on the area – able to choose who was on the borough council, dictate what was built, changes in taxes—was seen by some as unjust, leading to a huge family feud between the Holdsworths and the Seales, who campaigned for electoral reform and in 1832, eventually took over the parliamentary seat for Dartmouth, where no Holdsworth would ever hold a position of power again.

Holdsworth’s uniform from his time as the last Governor of Dartmouth Castle can be found on display at Dartmouth Museum, where a whole room has been dedicated to the family. He was an amateur artist, and the Museum also holds some of his sketchbooks, whilst four etching and aquatint sketches of naval scenes at Dartmouth by Holdsworth are held by the British Museum. His work also featured in Frederick Christian Lewis's Picturesque Scenery on the River Dart, Devon: & Scenery of the River Dart, being a Series of Thirty-five Views, Representing the most interesting features in its Course, from its Source in the mildest & most uncultivated parts of Dartmoor, to its Mouth in the English Channel. Executed to form as nearly as possible... (1821)

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