SPURGEON, John Grove

1747 - 1829

John Grove Spurgeon was born in 1746/7 and baptised at St Nicholas with St Peter, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk on 10 April 1747, eldest son of John Spurgeon and his wife Sarah Baker, a sister of the Revd Richard Baker, D.D. Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and rector of Cawston, Norfolk. John Grove Spurgeon obtained a B.A. (hons) degree from Cambridge University in 1769 and in 1774 instituted to rectory of Oulton, Suffolk and in 1788 was preferred as rector of Clopton, Suffolk and was a local magistrate. Spurgeon married on 13 November 1781, Ann Farrer (1755-1837), eldest of the three daughters of William Farrer (died c.1799) of Cold Brayfield, Buckinghamshire and had two children, Frances Elizabeth (1785-1879) and Farrer Grove (1783-1826), who took the name of Farrer in 1799 under the terms of his grandfather's will on inheriting the manor of Cold Brayfield. Daughter Frances, who was baptised at Melton, Suffolk on 24 March 1785, married at St Paul's Covent Garden on 27 December 1804, Edward Acton Acton (1767-1822), the parents of Lt Col Edward Farrer Acton (1805-1890). John Grove Spurgeon died at Lowestoft, Suffolk on 1 August and buried at Clopton St Mary church, Suffolk on 7 August 1829 and in his obituary in 'The Gentleman Magazine' (vol.99 - p.187) is noted that he 'etched…with considerable taste and spirit; and his productions united softness with strength, finishing with freedom'. His etching of his daughter Frances Elizabeth 'Mrs Acton' is in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

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Works by This Artist