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Edward Vernon Utterson was born in Fareham, Hampshire. The exact date and even year is not recorded, but he was baptised in 1777. His father was the secretary to Sir Edward Vernon, a distinguished Royal Navy Officer, after whom he named his first son. His mother was from originally from Devon, and Edward Utterson was the first of eight children.
Edward Utterson was educated first at Eton and from 1794 at Trinity College, Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn, London. He graduated in 1801 as a Bachelor of Laws, and the following year was called to the bar as a Barrister.
In May 1803 he married Sarah Elizabeth Brown, a writer and translator from London.
Edward Utterson belonged to many clubs and societies in London. He was a founder member of the Roxburghe Club in 1812 and was listed a member of the Athenaeum Club at its first meeting in 1824.
His other interests included sailing. He had his own yacht (‘Iris’) and he was on the committee for the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. Around 1835 he moved with his wife to the Isle of Wight, where he was elected a member of the Royal Western Yacht Club, Plymouth, in October of the same year. In 1840 the couple built Beldornie Tower, their residence in Pelham Field, Ryde.
Edward Utterson was considered a great amateur painter. He was knowledgeable about art and literature, and collected works by many renowned artists of the period. In 1815 three of his paintings were shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Edward Utterson was a Fellow of the Society of Arts as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Edward Utterson died in 1856. In the year following his death there was a large auction of his estate by Christie and Manson (24 February 1857) in King Street, St. James’s. His vast collection included not only his own artwork but paintings by Thomas Stothard, J M W Turner and Augustus Wall Callcot (Morning Post, London, 26 Jan 1857).
His works are represented in the collection of The British Museum.
