John Astley, the painter, was born at Wem, in Shropshire. He was a pupil
of Hudson, and was at Rome about the same time with Sir Joshua Reynolds.
After his return to England, he went to Dublin, practised there as a
painter for three years, and in that time earned 3000_l._ As he was
painting his way back to London, in his own postchaise, with an
outrider, he loitered in his neighbourhood, and, visiting Nutsford
Assembly, he there saw Lady Daniel, a widow, who was so captivated by
him, that she contrived to sit to him for her portrait, and then
offered him her hand, which he at once accepted. Poor Astley, in the
decline of life, was disturbed by reflections upon the dissipation of
his early days, and was haunted with apprehensions of indigence and
want. He died at his house, Duckenfield Lodge, Cheshire, Nov. 14, 1787,
and was buried at the church of that village.