Charles Cooper Henderson

Charles Cooper Henderson (1803 - 1877) was a British painter of horses and coaches Charles Cooper Henderson was a very prolific artist and extremely skilled in drawing horses and coaching and road scenes His paintings are acknowledged as the most accurate and authentic pictures of nineteenth century carriages and mail and stage coaches He married in 1828, and fathered seven sons, among them Colonel Kennet Gregg Henderson, CB, and two daughters He died at Lower Halliford-on-Thames on 21 August 1877, and was buried in the catacombs as Kensal Green

Henderson was born in Abbey House, Chertsey, Surrey to John Henderson and Georgiana Jane (born Keate) His maternal grandfather was George Keate and his elder brother was John Henderson, the antiquary and benefactor of the British Museum He was sent to Winchester School and then studied to be a lawyer His father was an amateur artist and patron and his mother had exhibited four of her paintings in 1791 Henderson trained under Samuel Prout

Cooper Henderson was educated at Brighton and then Winchester before studying rather idly for the Bar and enjoying a European tour with his father and elder brother, John While his father and brother sketched panoramas, Cooper Henderson found, to him, more interesting subjects among the coaches, carriages and postillions 'on the road' On Christmas Eve, 1829 (sic), he was married secretly to Charlotte By (then aged sixteen), the daughter of a Thames lighterman Disapproving of the marriage, his father gave him a small allowance and told him to leave London Thrown mainly onto his own resources, Cooper Henderson moved to Bracknell in Berkshire and started to paint for his living He was quickly successful and his pictures of coaches and coaching are well known, being more accurate and lively than those of his near contemporary, James Pollard He soon received sufficient commissions to afford to return to London where he was reconciled with his parents

Henderson was estranged from his father after he married a young girl called Charlotte By in 1828 They were to have nine children together and seven of these were boys Their children were Charles Cooper (the younger), John Keate Shepard, Charlotte (the younger), Kennart Gregg, Robert, Mary, Roderick William, George By and Henry Cooper Henderson They all lived out of their infancy but Robert died whilst still a child Henderson had just two paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy, both in the 1840s

In 1850, Henderson inherited his family's money when his mother died His mother's money had come from George Keate In 1805 his mother and father were failing to maintain 250 dilapidated houses in Whitechapel, but they were still receiving £700 in income He also came into money from his wife's family who had land in Canada With no worries about his income, Henderson took the opportunity to give his energies to painting In 1877 Henderson died a widower at his home, 3 Lamb's Conduit Place, London, on 21 August 1877

The poorly maintained houses in Whitechapel that maintained the Henderson family were bringing in four pence per room per night where they were common lodging houses in the year that Henderson died Eleven years later it was this area that became notorious in its association with Jack the Ripper Many of Henderson's paintings were engraved by himself and others such as Henry A Papprill, John Harris, and the renowned Samuel William Fores

Prints of his coaching scenes are valued and collected The “Fores’s Coaching Recollections” were originally engraved from Henderson paintings in 1842-43 and continued to be republished during the 19th century In the series numbered Plates I-VI, “Changing Horses”, “All Right”, “Pulling Up To Un-Skid”, “Waking Up”, “The Olden Time”, “The Night Team”, the first five were engraved by John Harris, the sixth by Henry A Papprill Examples as large format aquatints can be seen in the UK Government Art Collection and have been found at auction in 2006, 2008, 2014 He has original paintings in several public collections in Dublin and in the UK Henderson was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery and he has a memorial at St Nicholas's Church in Shepperton

The best known prints are his coaching recollections and Incidents," published by Messrs Fores, while two rare prints represent "The Age" (1829), leaving the Castle Square, Brighton, and "The Taglioni" -- the well-known dancer being represented on the harness and panels -- with Lord Chesterfield on the box Henderson was a good whip himself, and in his pictures he gives correct details, such as check, reins, blindfolded horses, , which an artist who was not a coachman might easily overlook His horses, too are good types of the old coach horses, and is work will probablyy soon rise in value; the prints at present sell from £5 to £15 Shayer, who painted some fine coaching scenes, and Herring, Aiken, senr and junr, are other are other artists who occasionally turned their attention to the "Road"
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