William Tate was an English portrait painter. He was born in 1747 probably at Gawber Hall, near Barnsley, where his father was a glass maker and was christened on 14 November of that year in Darton

Darton

Darton is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley , on the border with West Yorkshire. According to the 2001 UK census, it has a population of approximately 14,927...

 near Barnsley He was educated at Woolton

Woolton

Woolton is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. It is located at the south of the city, bordered by Gateacre, Hunts Cross, Allerton and Halewood. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 14,836.-History:...

 near Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 where his brother Richard Tate lived and had Joseph Wright of Derby

Joseph Wright of Derby

Joseph Wright , styled Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution"....

 as his lodger in 1769. William Tate soon after became a pupil of Wright.

It was with Joseph Wright in 1772 that William Tate first exhibited at the Society of Artists

Society of Artists

The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established Paris salons....

 in London where he became a fellow. Over the next twenty years Tate exhibited in Manchester (1773), Liverpool (1774–1776) and London (1778–1787) at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 of Art. In 1787 William Tate moved to Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 where he stayed before moving to Bath in 1804 where he died in 1806.

The Walker Art Gallery

Walker Art Gallery

The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England, outside of London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group, and is promoted as "the National Gallery of the North" because it is not a local or regional gallery but is part...

 has a number of William Tate's portraits of notable men and women of the day including Daniel Daulby, and the sister of William Roscoe

William Roscoe

William Roscoe , was an English historian and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born in Liverpool, where his father, a market gardener, kept a public house called the Bowling Green at Mount Pleasant. Roscoe left school at the age of twelve, having learned all that his schoolmaster could teach...

. There are also paintings of his nephew Thomas Moss Tate and his niece Elizabeth Williamson, wife of Joseph Williamson

Joseph Williamson (philanthropist)

Joseph Williamson was an eccentric, businessman, property owner, and a philanthropist who is best known for the tunnels which were constructed under his direction in the Edge Hill area of Liverpool, England...

.