he subsequently refused the presidency; and though he withdrew on the temporary dissolution of the society in 1812, he continued to contribute to its exhibitions till 1817. He exhibited altogether 320 works, 182 at the Water-colour Society, 113 at the Royal Academy, and twenty-five at the British Institution. In 1817 he left London for 36 St. James's Parade, Bath, and he died at Maidenhead, Berkshire, on 19 March 1821, at the age of eighty.
Pocock married Ann, daughter of John Evans of Bristol. His sons Isaac [q. v.] and William Innes [q. v.] are noticed separately.
Though Pocock earned his reputation mainly by his pictures of naval engagements (for which the wars of his time supplied ample material) and other sea pieces, he also painted landscapes in oil and water-colour. As an artist he had taste and skill, but his large naval pictures, though accurate and careful, are wanting in spirit, and in water-colours he did not get much beyond the ‘tinted’ drawings of the earlier draughtsmen.
There are two of his sea-fights at Hampton Court, and four pictures by him at Greenwich Hospital, including the ‘Repulse of the French under De Grasse by Sir Samuel Hood's Fleet at St. Kitts in January 1782.’ The Bristol Society of Merchants possess a picture of the defeat of the same French admiral in the West Indies, 12 April 1782. This was engraved in line by Francis Chesham, and published 1 March 1784, the society subscribing ten guineas towards the expense. Many others of his marine subjects have been engraved.
Four of his water-colours, two dated 1790 and one 1795, are at the South Kensington Museum. Three of these are of Welsh scenery. Other drawings by him are in the British Museum and the Whitworth Institute at Manchester. He illustrated Falconer's ‘Shipwreck,’ 1804, and Clarke and m'Arthur's ‘Life of Napoleon,’ 1809. The engravings (eight in the former and six in the latter) are by James Fittler.
A portrait of Nicholas Pocock by his eldest son Isaac [q. v.] was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1811, and there is a caricature of him in A. E. Chalon's drawing of ‘Artists in the British Institution’ (see Portfolio, November 1884, p. 219).
[Redgrave's Dict.; Bryan's Dict. (Graves and Armstrong); Owen's Two Centuries of Ceramic Art at Bristol; Roget's ‘Old’ Water-colour Society; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. xi. 331, and 8th ser. iv. 108, 197, and 291; Leslie and Taylor's Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds.]
POCOCK, ROBERT (1760–1830), printer and antiquary, born at Gravesend, Kent, on 21 Feb. 1760, was the second son of John Pocock (1720–1772), grocer. He was educated at the free school, and, after a short experience of his father's business, established himself as a printer in his native town. He married in 1779 his first wife, Ann Stillard (d. 1791), by whom he had three children. In 1786 he founded the first circulating library and printing-office at Gravesend (Pocock, Chronology, 1790, p. 14). His first literary productions were some children's books. In 1792 he married his second wife, a daughter of John Hinde (d. 1818), who bore him seven children. He published an excellent history of Gravesend (1797), as well as other contributions to the topographical and family history of Kent. He also wrote a history of Dartford, and some other works, which were never printed.
Pocock was a man of great versatility but imperfect business capacity, and combined the occupations of bookseller, printer, publisher, naturalist, botanist, and local antiquary. He was proud of his collections (see Journals ap. Arnold), but was obliged occasionally to sell specimens. His latter years were passed in comparative poverty. He died on 26 Oct. 1830, and was buried at Wilmington.
Pocock's chief publications were: 1. ‘Pocock's Child's First Book, or Reading made easy,’ n.d., and ‘Child's Second Book,’ n.d. (the two were bound up and sold as ‘Pocock's Spelling Book).’ 2. ‘A Chronology of the most Remarkable Events that have occurred in the Parishes of Gravesend, Milton, and Denton, in Kent,’ Gravesend, 1790, 8vo. 3. ‘The History of the Incorporated Town and Parishes of Gravesend and Milton in Kent,’ Gravesend, 1797, 4to, plates. 4. ‘Kentish Fragments,’ Gravesend, 1802, 8vo. 5. ‘Memoirs of the Family of Tufton, Earls of Thanet,’ Gravesend, 1800, 8vo. 6. ‘Pocock's Gravesend Water Companion, describing all the Towns, Churches, Villages, Parishes, and Gentlemen's Seats, as seen from the Thames between London Bridge and Gravesend,’ Gravesend, 1802, sm. 8vo. 7. ‘Pocock's Margate Water Companion,’ Gravesend, 1802, sm. 8vo. (No. 6 continued to Margate). 8. ‘Pocock's Everlasting Songster, containing a Selection of the most approved Songs,’ Gravesend, 1804, sm. 8vo. 9. ‘Pocock's Sea Captains' Assistant, or Fresh Intelligence for Salt-water Sailors,’ Gravesend, n.d. [1802], sm. 8vo. 10. ‘God's Wonders in the Great Deep,’ n.d. 11. ‘The Antiquities of Rochester Cathedral,’ n.d. 12. ‘Memoirs of the Families of Sir
