Background
William Corden was born in Ashbourne, Derbyshire on 21 January 1795, the son of Robert Corden and his wife Sarah.
William Corden was born in Ashbourne, Derbyshire on 21 January 1795, the son of Robert Corden and his wife Sarah.
He was apprenticed at the Royal Crown Derby pottery under Robert Bloor and is reputed to have been among the painters decorating the famous Rockingham Pottery dessert service made for William IV which was first used at Queen Victoria"s coronation celebrations.
By 1831, William had moved his family to Windsor living first at 17, Brunswick Terrace, New Windsor and then Vine Cottage in Old Windsor. William and Esther had nine children, eight born in Derby and the last in Windsor including William (1819–1900) known as William Corden the Younger who followed in his father"s footsteps as a portrait painter. William Corden the Elder painted an oil portrait in 1829 of Sir Edmund Nagle (1757–1830) for George IV and a watercolour of Queen Victoria on the East Terrace at Windsor Castle in 1838, one of the earliest paintings of Queen Victoria.
Both of these paintings are in the Royal Collection.
There are over 50 paintings by William Corden listed in the Royal Collection but it is not always evident which were painted by the father and which by the son. Esther died in Windsor in 1855 and William moved back to the midlands.
William died in Nottingham on 18 June 1867 age 72.