RESEARCH NOTES
for all of you that believe that Thomas Reynolds was the son of Sir Joshua Reynolds
1/ There are no sources or evidence that prove this. All the sources listed on the internet are all very bad or do not exist sources listed making the mother of Thomas being 12 when she gave birth to Thomas. Joshua being married off when he was 12, Joshua been married off in London when it was known he was still living with his parents in Devon. And the list can go on and on with wrong sources listed, or none at all.
2/ Sir Joshua Reynolds stated himself that he never married, he was over 65 years old when he stated this.
3/ Edward Reynolds, the son of Thomas Reynolds and his notebook. Edward Reynolds, the son of Thomas Reynolds kept a notebook, in it he wrote a short, family history, then three biographies Sir Joshua Reynolds, David Garrick (A friend of Joshua Reynolds) and Martin Luther. Why he choose these three men is anyone's guess. Edward Reynolds made no claim of descent from any of these three men, but what obviously happened was that as the notebook ended up with one of the descendants of Thomas Reynolds, one or more of them misread the notebook, and because they had the same surname as Reynolds, they believed that it meant that they were descended from Sir Joshua Reynolds. Fast forward to the 1980's the note book was presumably stolen, however one of the Gosper descendants had it photocopied and this photocopy now resides in the Hawkesbury library see Home - Hawkesbury Library Service (nsw.gov.au)
put in Edward Reynolds under search catalogue and it will come up as notebook, it will cost about $12 Australian for a scan. Fast forward again to the internet, some one or someones, added the misinformation to the internet, and with everyone ticking those leaves and matches, this misinformation spread across the internet
4/ Circumstantial evidence
Sir Joshua Reynolds was firmly in the middle class when such things mattered in England in the 1700's. Thomas Reynolds was a millwright, a skilled trade, but it was still a trade. If Thomas was truly his son, you would think he would do more for a son than just a trade, Why not University like his nephews, a commission in the Army or Navy. No a trade. Joshua's unmarried sister acted as his housekeeper, not a wife. Joshua painted many of his family, but no painting of a wife or children exist. Joshua wrote many letters and so did his literary friends, and many of them survive, not a single one mentions a wife or children. The will of Sir Joshua Reynolds, he left the bulk of his estate to one of his nieces Mary Palmer, not to any grandchildren he would have had if Thomas Reynolds (Thomas Reynolds predeceased Joshua) was his son. No descendant of Thomas Reynolds for at least 4 generations, (that's as far as I have looked) had the first name of Joshua or had Joshua even as a middle name. Contrast that with the collateral descendants of Joshua Reynolds, who often were given Joshua as a first or middle name, for those who surnames were not Reynolds, they were often given Reynolds as a first name or a middle name. The Chief mourner at the funeral of Sir Joshua Reynolds was one of his nephews, no any supposedly son or a grandson, see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvz3pIOLL8sthis is a lecture by Ricahrd Wendorf see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wendorf5/ Sites like Wikitree, Geni, The Peerage, Famiiy Search and Sir Joshua Reynolds Wikipedia entry do not have any marriage or children listed for Sir Joshua Reynolds.. Anyone can alter a Wikipedia entry, you just need an account. Why have none of the managers that have Thomas Reynolds as the son of Sir Joshua Reynolds, changed the Wikipedia entry to include a wife and Thomas Reynolds as Joshua's son.
6/ Ian McIntyre in his over 600 page bio of Sir Joshua Reynolds. found no wife or son for him "Joshua Reynolds The Life and Times of the First President of the Royal Academy" Published in 2003. It is very detailed and full of sources.
7/ Frederic Thomas Colby writing in the late 1800,s had sp o.b. after Sir Joshua Reynolds name this is a short form of Latin meaning died with no children.
see Pedigrees of five Devonshire families, Colby, Coplestone, Reynolds, Palmer and Johnson [microform] : Colby, Frederic Thomas, 1827-1899 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
8/ In conclusion, the original misreading of Edward Reynolds note book by person or persons unknown, has now turned into cherished family history.
