Background
Born on 22 March 1769, he was son of Samuel Medley, the Baptist minister.
Born on 22 March 1769, he was son of Samuel Medley, the Baptist minister.
Taking up painting as his profession, he exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy, in 1792 sending The Last Supper. In 1805, however, he went on the Stock Exchange, for health reasons, where he made a comfortable income, continuing to paint in his leisure hours. With Cox, Henry Brougham, and some leading Dissenters, he was associated in founding University College, London, in 1826.
Medley lived in later life at Chatham, where he died on 10 August 1857, and was buried.
Medley married, first, in 1792 Susannah, daughter of George Bowley of Bishopsgate Street, London. Secondly, in 1818, Elizabeth, daughter of John Smallshaw of Liverpool.
Medley was a member of a large Baptist community in London, under Francis Augustus Cox.