Cornelius Varley

Cornelius Varley (1781–1873), landscape painter and inventor of optical apparatus, attended John Martin’s congregation in Keppel Street c. 1811. He later became a Sandemanian, 1833-47. His brother, John Varley (1778-1842), became a famous watercolour artist, as did another brother, William Fleetwood Varley (1785-1856). A sister, Elizabeth, married the artist William Mulready in 1803. Cornelius was also a friend of the artist Joshua Cristall and Samuel Palmer. Varley exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1803 until 1859. In 1809 he invented the graphic telescope, a drawing instrument. In 1821, he married Elizabeth Straker, a cousin of Michael Faraday’s future wife, and eventually joined the Sandemanian congregation meeting in Paul’s Alley, where Faraday also was an elder.