1727 Baptised on 14 May at the Independent Meeting House in Friars
Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, the fifth son and ninth child of John
Gainsborough, a clothier, and Mary Burroughs.
c. 1740 Sent to London and was taught by Hubert Francois
Gravelot, a French draughtsman and engraver.
1746 Married Margaret Burr on 15 July at Dr Keith's Mayfair
Chapel, London and settled in Hatton Garden, Margaret Burr had an annuity of
£200.
1749 Returned to Sudbury and lived in Friars Street
1750 Birth of his eldest surviving daughter, Mary.
1751 Birth of his youngest daughter, Margaret. Moved to
Foundation Street, Ipswich.
1758 Travelled to Bath
1759 Moved with his family to Bath where he rented a large house
in Abbey Street
1761 Exhibited at the first Society of Artist's exhibition in
London.
1766 Moved to a new house in The Circus in Bath.
1768 Accepted an invitation to become a founder member of the
Royal Academy of which Sir Joshua Reynolds was the first President.
1769 Exhibited in the first Royal Academy exhibition.
1772 Took as an apprentice his nephew, Gainsborough Dupont
(1754-97).
1773 Quarrelled with the Royal Academy over the hanging of his
pictures. He did not contribute to the Academy again until 1777.
1774 Moved to London where he rented the third wing of Schomberg
House in Pall Mall.
c. 1782 Made a tour of the West Country with
Gainsborough Dupont.
1783 ?July Made a tour of the Lake District with
his Ipswich friend, Samuel Kilderbee.
1783 September/October visits
Antwerp.
1784 Quarrelled again over the hanging of his paintings at the
Royal Academy and withdrew his pictures from the exhibition. He began to have
annual exhibitions of his work in his own studio.
1788 Died on 2 August in London. Buried in Kew Churchyard.
