The Havell family of Reading, Berkshire, England included a number of notable engravers, etchers and painters, as well as writers, publishers, educators, and musicians. In particular, members of this family were foremost practitioners of aquatint; and had a long association with Indian art and culture. They are the English descendants of the aristocratic Hauteville family of Normandy.
The family first came to notice through the brothers Luke Havell (drawing master, d. 1812?) and Robert Havell the Elder (engraver and publisher, 1769-1832); along with their nephew Daniel Havell (engraver, d. 1826?).
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Robert Havell, Sr. (Dec. 29, 1769 - Nov. 21, 1832) was the proprietor of a printing and engraving shop, with an ancillary business in natural history artifacts, in the Marylebone district of London, in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Havell's enterprise at 3 Chapel Street, known from 1818 to 1825 as Havell and Son, was well established when John James Audubon approached him in 1827 to engrave a portfolio of 240 drawings he had brought with him from America. Recognizing that without the help of another expert engraver he would not be able to take on a work of this magnitude Robert Havell, Sr., contacted his son, Robert Havell, Jr., who had quarreled with his father and left London in an attempt to launch an independent artistic career. Robert Havell, Jr. consented to reestablish the partnership with his father and agreed to engrave the plates of Audubon's drawings, with Robert, Sr., supervising their printing and coloring. The collaboration between father and son continued in this way until Robert Havell, Sr.'s retirement in 1828. Robert died in 1832, and was buried at the Old St. Pancras Church graveyard in London.
Robert Havell, Jr. (Nov. 25, 1793 - Nov. 11, 1878) was the principal engraver of Audubon's Birds of America, perhaps the most significant natural history publication of all time. His aquatint engraving of all but the first ten plates of John James Audubon's Birds of America is now recognized as a significant artistic achievement in its own right and an essential component of the success of Birds of America. He and Audubon became close friends and associates during their lengthy collaboration. In 1839 Havell went to America at the invitation of Audubon, first residing in Brooklyn. He settled in Ossining on the Hudson River and later moved to Tarrytown, New York, living there from 1857 through his remaining years. Although Havell continued to work in aquatint and engraving (primarily city panoramas), he devoted most of his attention to painting the countryside of the Hudson River valley. He traveled frequently in a homemade horse-drawn trailer, sketching and taking notes and translating his sketches into larger oils. Robert Havell, Jr., is considered a member of the Hudson River School of American painters. He died in 1878 and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown.
The following list of Luke Havell's descendants is incomplete; covering only those referenced in published sources.