BACKHOUSE (Edward). Miscellaneous Pieces.1851

Sunderland: Printed by Edward Backhouse Mounsey, Fawcett Street. [26]pp., stitched as issued. Edward Backhouse was born in Darlington on 8 May 1808, but lived for most of his life in Sunderland, where he was a partner, but not an active one, in the family colliery and banking businesses. He was a member of the Society of Friends and devoted himself to philanthropic and religious causes. A good amateur printer and painter, he was also interested in natural history, and illustrated several works written by his second cousin James. Backhouse married Katherine Mounsey in 1855. The couple had no children. He died in Hastings, where he had gone for his health, on May 22, 1879. The work Backhouse carried out on church history was published posthumously. The first 11 pages consist of "Abstract of the English Reigns, from the Conquest", this having its own title-page. This is then followed by several pieces of verse by family members.