historical painter to Princess Charlotte in 1813, and elected a full member in 1815. Plagued by ill-health for over five years and unable to paint in the last year of his life, Bird died on 2 November 1819. He was buried in Bristol Cathedral. The following year a successful retrospective exhibition of his work was shown at the Bristol Fire Office, for the benefit of his family. His son George later became a midshipman, his equipment paid for by the subscriptions of Bird's friends. His daughter Martha became a Bristol watercolourist, and the younger daughter Harriet a governess. References Further reading Francis Greenacre, "Bird, Edward (1772–1819)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 1 July 2007 London. Edward Bird at the Geffrye Museum, Nicholas Alfrey, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 124, No. 951 (Jun. 1982), p. 372+375+377 External links Arrival of Louis XVIII at Calais The Battle of Chevy Chase Italian Dancing Dog Master Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections 1772 births 1819 deaths 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters People from Wolverhampton British genre painters 18th century in Bristol 19th century in Bristol Royal Academicians 19th-century painters of historical subjects Artists from Bristol 19th-century English male artists 18th-century English male artists