Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Varley, William Fleetwood
VARLEY, WILLIAM FLEETWOOD (1785–1856), artist, younger brother of Cornelius Varley [q. v.] and of John Varley [q. v.], was born in 1785. He received his first art instruction from his brother, and began to exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1804. About 1810 he was teaching in Cornwall, and afterwards at Bath and Oxford. At the latter place, through the thoughtless frolics of some students, he was nearly burnt to death, and received a shock to his system from which he never recovered. He exhibited twenty-one landscapes at the Royal Academy between 1804 and 1818. He died at Ramsgate on 2 Feb. 1856. He was married, and left seven daughters and one son. He was the author of 'Observations on Colouring and Sketching from Nature,' of which an enlarged edition was published by W. Mason of Chichester in 1820.
[Roget's 'Old Watercolour' Society; Story's John Holmes and John Varley; Redgrave's Dict.; Gent. Mag. 1856, i. 656.]