Early Life, Family and Training Born on 26 December 1734 in Beckside, Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire, George Romney entered a world of practical craftsmanship. He was the third of eleven children born to John Romney, a cabinet maker, and Anne Simpson. His early years were shaped by the domestic rhythms of a large family in the Northwest of England. While he attended school at nearby Dendron, his formal education was brief. He was withdrawn from his studies at the age of eleven to begin an apprenticeship in his father's cabinet making business. The precision required by his father's trade lik…