Felix Joseph Slade (6 August 1788 – 29 March 1868) was an English lawyer and collector of

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...

, books and prints. A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (1866) and a philanthropist who endowed three Slade Professorships of Fine Art at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

, and at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, where he also endowed scholarships which formed the beginning of the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

(founded 1871) in London, whose Director holds the Slade Professorship. The bequest was also indirectly responsible for the foundation of the

Ruskin School of Drawing The Ruskin School of Art, known as the Ruskin, is an art school at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division. History The Ruskin grew out the Oxford School of Art, which was founded in 1865 and later became ...

in Oxford, which was financed by the first Oxford Professor,

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

, who announced his intention in his inaugural lecture "to the general dismay of his listeners". The Oxford and Cambridge professorships are visiting ones, who give the Slade Lectures, one of the most prestigious series of lectures on the history of art, which are commonly published. The first Slade Professors were

, at Oxford, and

Matthew Digby Wyatt Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt (28 July 1820 – 21 May 1877) was a British architect and art historian who became Secretary of the Great Exhibition, Surveyor of the East India Company and the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Camb ...

at Cambridge;

Edward Poynter Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet (20 March 183626 July 1919) was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy. Life Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter. He was born in Paris, F ...

. gave the first lecture on 2 October 1871 at University College, London. He was the son of Robert Slade, a Surrey landowner and proctor in

Doctors' Commons Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil (as opposed to common) law in London, namely ecclesiastical and admiralty law. Like the Inns of Court of the common lawyers, the society had buildi ...

, who eventually became deputy lieutenant for Surrey, and his wife Eliza Foxcroft of Halsteads (near Thornton-in-Lonsdale, Yorkshire). From his father he inherited a considerable fortune, which supported his purchases of books and prints. He lived with his bachelor brother Henry in the family house in Walcot Place (in the Kennington area of London) and built up a valuable collection of historical glass. When he died unmarried he left a fortune of £160,000 and bequeathed the bulk of his art collection to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

; the books are now in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. One of the features of the book collection includes twenty-five bindings from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, representing English, French, and Italian styles. £35,000 was specified for the endowment of art professorships, to be known as Slade Professorships, at Oxford, Cambridge, and

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. University College received the additional bequest of six art scholarships for students, the nucleus of the

. He meticulously catalogued his collection of glass, which was published in 1869 and 1871. Slade was the subject of a portrait in coloured chalk by

Margaret Sarah Carpenter Margaret Sarah Carpenter ('' née'' Geddes; 1793 – 13 November 1872) was an English painter. Noted in her time, she mostly painted portraits in the manner of Sir Thomas Lawrence. She was a close friend of Richard Parkes Bonington. Early life ...

Notes

External links

Friends of West Norwood Cemetery: Genealogical notice
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slade, Felix 1788 births 1868 deaths English philanthropists English art collectors Burials at West Norwood Cemetery Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London