Edward Thomas Daniell was born on 6 June 1804 at Charlotte Street in central London, to Sir Thomas Daniell, a retired attorney-general of Dominica, and his second wife Anne Drosier, the daughter of John Drosier of Rudham Grange, Norfolk.[17][18] Sir Thomas' first wife, with whom he had a son Earle and a daughter Anne, died in London in 1792. Their daughter married John Holmes in Norfolk in 1802 and died in childbirth in 1805.[19][20][21] Her brother Earle was an officer in the 12th Dragoons by 1806.[22]
portrait of mother
John Linnell, Mrs Daniell, Mother of the Artist E. T. Daniell (1835)[note 2]
Sir Thomas purchased land and slaves in the Leeward Islands, which were then part of the British Empire. His estates, including 291 acres (118 ha) at Dickenson Bay on Antigua, had been bought in 1779 from the family of his first wife.[22] He retired and moved to the west of Norfolk,[24] but his health deteriorated and he died of cancer in 1806, leaving a young widow and infant son.[25][note 3] He left his Dominican lands to her, and his Antigua estate to his adult son Earle, subject to him providing a guaranteed annual income of £300 to the family in Norfolk.[29] Anne Daniell and her son moved to a house in St. Giles Street, Norwich.[18] She died in 1836 aged 64, and was buried in the nave of St Mary Coslany.[30]
Edward Daniell grew up with his mother in Norwich and was educated at Norwich Grammar School, where the drawing master was John Crome.[31][17] He was involved in the art world at a young age; the brothers Thomas and Chambers Hall wrote to the artist John Linnell in 1822 about "our young friend Mr Daniells [sic] who accompanied us to your house last week and who wishes to possess a drawing".[32]
On 9 December 1823, aged 19, Daniell went to Balliol College, Oxford to read classics.[31] He graduated in November 1828,[33] despite having neglected his studies in favour of art.[32] In a letter to Linnell, he wrote: "I find that the examinations for which I am preparing next month require a closer application to my literary studies than I had imagined and that I must not attempt to 'serve two masters'."[32] He was introduced to etching by Joseph Stannard, and during the holidays practiced at Stannard's studio in St. Giles Terrace, around the corner from his own house.[31][17] He graduated with a Master of Arts on 25 May 1831.[32]
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