George Baxter
Person Male Born 31/7/1804 Died 11/1/1867
Artist and craftsman. Born Lewes. 1825 moved to London and married his cousin Mary Harrild. He invented a commercially viable colour printing process, producing prints of religious and topical subjects. His work was popular and successful but he was a perfectionist and did not handle well the competition presented by photography. As his business failed he fell out with family and friends. In 1865 he was declared bankrupt and retired to his wife's home, The Retreat in Sydenham, where he died, following a collision with a horse-drawn omnibus.
2017: at a small exhibition about the history of the City University site in Northampton Square an information panel provided: “… the inventor of commercially viable colour printing. The Baxter Process, which he patented in 1835, involved an initial metal keyplate and up to 20 wood or metal blocks to apply each individual colour. Baxter prints bear an imprint such as “Baxter Patent Oil Printing 11 Northampton Square”.
