ilson Alexander
(Manchester 1803 - 1846)
Rush Bearing at Long Millgate, Manchester
Biography
Born in 1803 into a local family of notable talent, Alexander Wilson was a self-taught artist and song writer. He was well known for his paintings of successful racehorses and sportsmen such as The Manchester Cockpit. In his best known work Rush Bearing at Long Millgate, Manchester, he chose Long Millgate as the setting, with the cart shown passing the Manchester Arms. In addition to his considerable talent as a painter he was a succesful song writer, his numerous abilities summarised in a section of his epitaph which reads: ‘And they who know they varied powers, / May well remember thee.’