Copley (John Singleton) is born in Boston.

The son of Irish immigrants, John Singleton Copley grows up in the home and tobacco shop of his widowed mother on Long Wharf, then is trained by his stepfather, London-born painter and engraver Peter Pelham. Copley becomes Boston’s most notable portrait painter, marries Susannah Clarke in 1769,* and lives near today’s 43 Beacon Street. After complaining, “The people generally regard [painting as] no more than any other useful trade . . . like that of a carpenter, tailor, or shoemaker, not as one of the most noble Arts in the world,” he leaves Boston in 1774,* settles in England, and succeeds as both a portrait and a history painter. Copley dies in London on September 9, 1815. The Museum of Fine Arts today owns the largest collection of his works