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A fashionable and prolific English portrait painter who exhibited some 138 works at the Royal Academy between 1802 and 1838, and was one of the founders of the Society of British Artists. His work was influenced and overshadowed by his more successful contemporary Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830). Lonsdale was a pupil of George Romney (1734–1802).
Lonsdale, who started off as a pattern designer at Margerison and Glover's print-works in Catterall, was encouraged as an artist by the Lancaster architect Richard Threlfall, of whom he exhibited a portrait in 1809. Lord Archibald, impressed by the quality of his painting and drawing, invited him to Ashton Hall. Here he met two of Lord Archibald's daughters, Lady Anne Hamilton and Lady Susan, the Countess of Dunmore. Feeling that his future would hold more promise in the city, he moved to London, becoming a favourite pupil of Romney's, accompanying him abroad on several occasions. He enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools on 23 October 1801. Lonsdale married a Lancastrian, Miss Thornton, and set up a residence in Southgate.