Ellis A. Davidson
{{Infobox writer
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| birth_date={{birth year|1828}}
| birth_place=Hull, United Kingdom
| death_date={{death date and age|1878|03|09|1828|df=y}}
| death_place=London, United Kingdom
| resting_place=Willesden Jewish Cemetery
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| spouse={{marriage|Catherine Levy|1854}}{{r|finestein}}
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| relatives=Abraham Benisch (brother-in-law){{r|palgrave}}
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Ellis Abraham Davidson (1828 – 9 March 1878) was a British writer and educationalist. He is considered a pioneer in the teaching of techniques for art study.{{r|finestein}}{{r|JE}} He was also well known as an art lecturer.{{r|cantor_2005}}
Biography
Ellis A. Davidson was born to a Jewish family in Hull, but at the age of ten moved to London, where his father worked as a chiropodist.{{r|cantor_2009}}
He attended the London School of Design and the School of Art in South Kensington,{{r|palgrave}} and was one of the first teachers sent into the provinces by the Science and Art Department to establish schools of art. For several years he taught at the Government School of Arts and Crafts in Chester.{{r|cantor_2005}}
In 1866 Davidson was appointed principal art master of the City Middle Class School, a position which he resigned after six years in order to devote himself more completely to his literary career.{{r|JE}} As a lecturer, he delivered talks to such organisations as the Teachers' Training Association, the Horological Society, the Grenadier Guards, the London Mechanics' Institute, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Jews' College.{{r|JE}}{{r|cantor_2009}} He also produced a series of models for class teaching of drawing, which were used in government and other schools.{{r|JE}}
Davidson took an active interest in several communal movements, especially those intended to promote the intellectual development of the adult members of the Jewish industrial classes. He was a committee member for the Association for Providing Free Lectures to Jewish Working Men and Their Families, the Society of Hebrew Literature, the Jewish Association for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge, and other institutions.{{r|myers}}
Partial bibliography
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- {{cite book|title=Drawing for Elementary Schools|location=London|publisher=Chapman & Hall|date=1857}}
- {{cite book|title=Orthographic and Isometrical Projection|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1868|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xTUDAAAAQAAJ}}
- {{cite book|title=The Elements of Building Construction and Architectural Drawing|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1869|hdl=2027/gri.ark:/13960/t5dc1tn9v |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/gri.ark:/13960/t5dc1tn9v}}
- {{cite book|title=Houses and What They Are Made Of|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1869}}
- {{cite book|title=Our Bodies|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1869|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3yQDAAAAQAAJ}}
- {{cite book|title=The Uses of Plants in Food, Arts, and Commerce|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1869|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z1gDAAAAQAAJ}}
- {{cite book|title=The Animal Kingdom|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1884|orig-date=1870|edition=7th|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sEkDAAAAQAAJ}}
- {{cite book|title=Drawing for Carpenters and Joiners|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1870}}
- {{cite book|title=Our First Grammar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OsUDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA3|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1870}}
- {{cite book|title=Our Food: A Useful Book for Boys and Girls|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1870|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9h4DAAAAQAAJ}}
- {{cite book|title=The Elements of Practical Perspective|location=London|publisher=Cassell & Co.|date=1884|hdl=2027/uiug.30112064210773 |orig-date=1870|edition=7th|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112064210773}}
- {{cite book|title=The Happy Nursery|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1870}}
- {{cite book|title=Model Drawing|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=n.d.|hdl=2027/mdp.39015062334092 |orig-date=1871|edition=3rd|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015062334092}}
- {{cite book|title=The Boy Joiner and Model Maker|location=London|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|date=1874|hdl=2027/uiug.30112050004677 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112050004677}}
- {{cite book|title=Gothic Stonework: History and Principles of Church Architecture|publisher=Cassell, Petter & Galpin|location=London|date=1874|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TADAAAAQAAJ}}
- {{cite book|title=The Amateur House-Carpenter|location=London|publisher=Chapman & Hall|date=1875|hdl=2027/nnc1.ar52259188 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.ar52259188}}
- {{cite book|title=A Practical Manual of House-Painting, Graining, Marbling and Sign-Writing|location=London|publisher=Crosby Lockwood & Son|date=1888|hdl=2027/gri.ark:/13960/t14n13c88 |orig-date=1876|edition=5th|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/gri.ark:/13960/t14n13c88}}
- {{cite book|title=The Bible Reader, and Abstract of the Holy Bible. Adapted for the Use of Jewish Schools and Families, with the Addition of Questions on the Text, and Moral Reflections on Each Chapter|location=London|publisher=P. Vallentine|date=1877|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b0tXpzhoIksC&pg=PP5}}
- {{cite book|title=Pretty Arts for the Employment of Leisure Hours|location=London|publisher=Chapman & Hall|date=1879|hdl=2027/dul1.ark:/13960/t3qv64x18 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/dul1.ark:/13960/t3qv64x18}}
- {{cite book|title=Linear Drawing|location=London|publisher=Cassell & Co.|date=1899|hdl=2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t58c9x35s |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t58c9x35s}}
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References
{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Davidson, Ellis A.|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4994-davidson-ellis-a|first1=Joseph|last1=Jacobs|first2=Goodman|last2=Lipkind|volume=4|page=472}}
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Category:19th-century British Jews
Category:19th-century English male writers
Category:19th-century English non-fiction writers
Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art
Category:British art educators
Category:British textbook writers
Category:Jewish English writers