Paton, Joseph Noel, Sir, RSA
1821 – 1901
Son of Joseph Neil (1797-1874) a damask designer from whom he received his early training. Spent a period in a muslin factory at Paisley as a youth. Spent a short period in London where he enrolled at the Royal Academy and became friends with John Everett Millais but returned to Scotland by 1844. Became close friends with David Octavius Hill who married Paton's elder sister the sculptor Amelia Paton in 1862. Exhibited at the RSA Annual Exhibitions between 1844 and 1885. Became an Associate Member in 1846 and became an Academician in 1850. He became the Queen's Limner in Scotland in 1866 and was knighted in 1867. Paton designed the RSA President's medal in 1853-55 and the Maclaine-Watters medal. He also designed the covers of two of the RSA Annual Exhibitions and the ticket for a soiree held in March 1860 for the Edinburgh Artillery Volunteers of which he was an active member. He also designed their uniform and examples of three related badges are held in the RSA Collections. He was offered but declined the opportunity to be put forward as President of the RSA His younger brother was the landscape artist Waller Hugh Paton who also became an RSA in 1865.
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