son of servants and innkeepers
Henry Sass's Academy (1835-37, London); Royal Academy (RA) Schools (1837)
1838 - first exhibition - British Institution
1840 - RA debut with Malvolio before the Countess Olivia (untraced - Shakespeare subject)
1852 - elected member of RA
1854 - exhibits Life at the Seaside, Ramsgate Sands at RA; painting is purchased by Queen Victoria
1858 - exhibits Derby Day at RA
1878 - completes Road to Ruin series of 5 paintings (private collection)
1880 - completes Race for Wealth series of 5 paintings (Valdodara Picture Gallery)
1887 - publishes Autobiography and Reminiscences
1890 - retires from RA
1891 - pubishes John Leech: His Life and Work
1902 - last RA exhibition
Charles Dickens; Ernest Gambert (art dealer)
Life at the Seaside, Ramsgate Sands, 1854 RA exhibition (Royal Collection, London)
Derby Day, 1858 RA (Tate, London)
Arscott, Caroline. “William Powell Frith’s The Railway Station: Classification and the Crowd,” in Mark Bills and Vivien Knight, eds., William Powell Frith: Painting the Victorian Age. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 79-94
Bills, Mark. William Powell Frith: Painting the Victorian Age. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2006
Kennedy, Ian and Julian Treuherz. The Railway. Art in the Age of Steam. Exhibition catalogue. New Haven, CT and London: Yale Universtiy Press, 2008
Wood, Christopher. William Powell Frith: a Painter and his World. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2006