William Barraud was a portrait photographer, with studios in both London and Liverpool, he seems to have been most active during the 1880s and 1890s.
Background
Ethnicity:
The family was of French Huguenot origin that had come over to England at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
William was born in Lambeth in London, one of 17 children of William Francis Barraud , a clerk in the Custom House, and Sophia (née) Hull. His paternal grandfather was Paul Philip Barraud an eminent chronometer maker in Cornhill, and his maternal grandfather, Thomas Hull, a miniature painter. His younger brother Henry Barraud was also a notable artist, and another, Edward, though talented in art did not take it up as a profession.
Education
On leaving school William Barraud to have become a clerk in the Custom House where his father worked (although there are no records of this), but eventually became a pupil of artist Abraham Cooper.
Career
As an animal artist William Barraud specialised in painting horses and dogs, exhibiting at the Royal Academy from 1829-1850, the British Institution from 1828-1849, the Society of British Artists and at other venues. His work was popular with huntsmen and dog-fanciers. He also produced some historical and landscape paintings.
William shared a studio, from 1835 until his untimely death, with his brother Henry, and collaborated on many subject pictures with himself painting the animals and Henry the figures. Several of these joint works were exhibited at the Royal Academy. The brothers also produced a book together entitled "Sketches of Figures and Animals" (H. Graves and Co. c. 1850). William also collaborated on another book with fellow artist Thomas Fairland (1804-1852) called "The book of animals drawn from nature" (C. Tilt, 1846).
William died in Kensington, London from dysentery and typhoid fever on 1 October 1850, in his fortieth year.
Portrait of a saddled black hunter with a sheep dog in a stable
1837
Portrait of the Hunter Skylark
A Grey and a Chestnut Hunter outside a Barn
painting
Two horses nipping
painting
painting
A groom with his hack holding his master's horse
Lord And Lady Twemlow
painting
Connections
In 1841 William married Mary Ratliff and they had a son Clement William (1843-1926), who went on to become a stained-glass designer (for Lavers, Barraud and Westlake), a Jesuit priest, poet and playwright. Mary died soon after the birth and in 1850 William married Margaret Harrison.