Early life

Britton was born on 7 July 1771 at Kington St. Michael, near Chippenham

Chippenham, Wiltshire

Chippenham is a market town in Wiltshire, England, located east of Bath and west of London. In the 2001 census the population of the town was recorded as 28,065....

. His parents were in humble circumstances, and he was left an orphan at an early age. At sixteen he went to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and was apprenticed to a wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 merchant. Prevented by ill-health from serving his full term, he found himself adrift in the world, without money or friends. In his fight with poverty he was put to strange shifts, becoming cellarman at a tavern and clerk to a lawyer, reciting and singing at a small theatre, and compiling a collection of common songs.

Literary career

After some slight successes as a writer, a Salisbury

Salisbury

Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...

 publisher commissioned him to compile an account of Wiltshire and, in conjunction with his friend Edward Wedlake Brayley

Edward Wedlake Brayley

Edward Wedlake Brayley was an English antiquary and topographer.He was born at Lambeth, London. He was apprenticed to the enamelling trade, but developed an early interest in literature. His close friendship with John Britton lasted for sixty-five years...

, Britton produced The Beauties of Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

(1801; 2 vols., a third added in 1825), the first of the series The Beauties of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, nine volumes of which Britton and his friend wrote.

Britton was the originator of a new class of literary works. "Before his time," says Digby Wyatt, "popular topography

Topography

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...

 was unknown." In 1805 Britton published the first part of his Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain (9 vols., 1805–1814); and this was followed by Cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 Antiquities of England (14 vols., 1814–1835). In 1845 a Britton Club was formed, and a sum of £1000 was subscribed and given to Britton, who was subsequently granted a civil list pension by Disraeli, then chancellor of the exchequer

Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...

. Britton was an earnest advocate of the preservation of national monuments, proposing in 1837 the formation of a society such as the later Society for the Preservation of Ancient Monument

Ancient monument

An ancient monument is an early historical structure or monument worthy of preservation and study due to archaeological or heritage interest. In the United Kingdom it is a legal term, differing from the American term National Monument in being far more numerous and always man-made...

s. Britton himself supervised the reparation of Waltham Cross and Stratford-on-Avon church

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon

The Collegiate Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon is a Grade I listed parish church of the Church of England in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.-Background:...

. He died in London on 1 January 1857.

Among other works with which Britton was associated either as author or editor are Historical Account of Redcliffe Church

St Mary Redcliffe

St. Mary Redcliffe is an Anglican parish church located in the Redcliffe district of the English port city of Bristol, close to the city centre. Constructed from the 12th to the 15th centuries, the church is a Grade 1 listed building, St...

, Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

(1813); Illustrations of Fonthill Abbey

Fonthill Abbey

Fonthill Abbey — also known as Beckford's Folly — was a large Gothic revival country house built around the turn of the 19th century at Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire, England, at the direction of William Thomas Beckford and architect James Wyatt...

(1823); Architectural Antiquities of Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

, with illustrations by Pugin

Augustus Charles Pugin

Augustus Charles Pugin, born Auguste Charles Pugin, was an Anglo-French artist, architectural draughtsman, and writer on medieval architecture...

 (1825–1827); Picturesque Antiquities of English Cities (1830); and History of the Palace and Houses of Parliament at Westminster (1834–1836), the joint work of Britton and Brayley. He contributed much to the Gentleman's Magazine and other periodicals. Among the students he employed were Samuel Rayner

Samuel Rayner

Samuel Rayner was an English landscape artist, known for his paintings of buildings and their interiors, including abbeys, churches and old mansions. He achieved the distinction of having a work accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy at only 15 years of age...

 and George Cattermole

George Cattermole

George Cattermole was an English painter and illustrator, chiefly in watercolours. He was a friend of Charles Dickens and many other literary and artistic figures.-Life and work:...

 who were both to be successful artists.

His Autobiography was published in 1850. A Descriptive Account of his Literary Works was published by his assistant T.E. Jones.

Britton was lampooned for his inaccuracy in historical matters by Richard Harris Barham

Richard Harris Barham

Richard Harris Barham was an English cleric of the Church of England, novelist, and humorous poet. He was known better by his nom de plume Thomas Ingoldsby.-Life:Richard Harris Barham was born in Canterbury...

, writing under the name Thomas Ingoldsby, in two mock-antique ballads (with spurious annotations) entitled Relics of Antient Poetry.

Death and legacy

Britton was buried in West Norwood Cemetery

West Norwood Cemetery

West Norwood Cemetery is a cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery.One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and...

 where his monument, a vertical 10' slab of brown granite, was designed to be as permanent as Stonehenge

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...

. It is listed Grade II*.

After his death, his library of topographical and antiquarian books and manuscripts was acquired by a group of Wiltshire gentlemen. They resolved to form the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society was founded in 1853, and is one of the largest county-based archaeological societies in the UK. It runs the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes, Wiltshire which has the best Bronze Age collections in Britain, including finds from Avebury...

 'to cultivate and collect information on archaeology and Natural History in their various branches and to form a Library and Museum illustrating the History, natural, civic and ecclesiastic of the County of Wilts'. The Wiltshire Heritage Museum

Wiltshire Heritage Museum

The Wiltshire Heritage Museum, formerly known as Devizes Museum, is a museum, archive and library and art gallery in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. The museum was established and is still run by, the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society , a registered charity founded in 1853. After...

 and its library still contain the cabinet that he owned and his books and papers.

Britton Street in Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...

(formerly known as Red Lion St) is named after him.