Engraver, born in Marple in Cheshire, he studied at the Hegginbottom Art School in Ashton-under-Lyme and then at the RCA. He taught art at Southend College of Art, Clapham School of Art, and Hammersmith Art School where he was for a time Principal.
Washington exhibited at the RA, RBA, and NEAC and restricted himself to engraving somewhat in the style of Stanley Anderson. His subjects were largely architectural, as in ‘La Rochelle’, ‘Quai de Conti, Paris’, and ‘The Black Bridge’, ‘Little Baddow’, and also figure studies and portraits with a period flavour, such as ‘Clocks to Mend’ and ‘The Cricket Bat Maker’. Examples of his work are in the collections of the Ashmolean, BM, V&A, BC and the Imperial War Museum. His son Robert Washington was a potter and ceramicist of some renown.