R. Barnard Way

(* I'm reposting this from 20 October 2008 as some information about another aspect of Way's artistic career has come to light. I'd like to thank Tony Woolrich and Gordon Howsden for the additional info., which I'll tack onto the end. Tony, of course, wrote the original article.)

Way was one of the artists who illustrated Modern Wonder in the late 1930s. The 1901 census shows he was born in 1890 into a dynasty of printers, artists and lithographers. His grandfather Thomas (1837-1915) and father Thomas Robert (1861-1913) were both heavily involved in working with the artist James McNeill Whistler. Both are featured in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. His father produced a series of lithographed advertising posters for the London Underground in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Way’s work spanned more than forty years and ranged from illustrating children’s annuals to writing and illustrating technical books for children and adults. He specialised in transport themes, particularly railways. For a number of years he collaborated with Noel D. Green in producing practical and technical manuals published by Wells Gardner & Darton of London and latterly Redhill, Surrey.

Way’s art ranged from pen and ink line drawings and sketches to coloured paintings and drawings. For illustrated technical books published by Odhams in the mid-1940s he made a series of cutaway drawings of machinery and industrial plant. These were all in grey monochrome, reflecting the printing restrictions of the time. He signed his work variously as R. B. W., R. B. Way and R. Barnard Way.

It is possible he might have done covers and other art work for the part works on railways, shipping, aircraft and engineering edited in the late 1930s by Clarence Winchester, as well as covers for Meccano Magazine but as these illustrations are unsigned there is no way of easily finding out. He draw at least one cover for The Listener or Radio Times. One of his railway paintings is in the collection of the railway museum at Swindon.

Way was never featured as an artist for Eagle or Look and Learn, and it is possible he was largely retired by the time they appeared.

Way’s biography is very obscure: he does not appear in modern academic studies of children’s books nor has he yet been traced in dictionaries of book illustrators. His date of death has not been found nor any details of his art school training. His concentration in his books on engineering and technical themes suggests he may have had some kind of technical training. Like many artists of his generation who were too old for active service in World War 2 he may have been engaged by the Ministry of Information or the Military in illustrating advertising or information booklets.

The following list of his work has been compiled from the online British Library Catalogue, COPAC and WorldCat augmented by titles noted by book dealers in ABE. Many of the books went into several editions, but the earliest ones traced are the ones noted. It is certain that more references might be added, particularly for works he illustrated.

Non-fiction (written & illustrated)
Nister’s train book. London, Nister & Co, 1930.
Motorland. London. Raphael Tuck, 1931.
Every Boy’s Book of Electricity. London, Percival Marshall, & Co, 1933.
Everybody's Book of Aeroplanes. London, Percival Marshall & Co, 1934.
Worlds in the Making. London, The Chatterbox Company Ltd, 1934.
By road, rail, sea and air. London, Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1934.
The Romance of Progress. London, Wells Gardner & Darton, 1934.
The Book of the Motor Car, with Noel D. Green. London, Wells Gardner & Darton, c.1935.
How, Why and When? Railway Engines. London, Cassell, 1935.
Modern heavy-oil engines simply explained. London, Percival Marshall, 1935.
Famous British Trains A Chronicle of the Daily Work of the Named Expresses. London, R. Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1936.
How, Why and When? Aeroplanes. London, Cassell, 1936.
Wireless Made Easy. London, F. Warne & Co., 1937.
Mixed Traffic. London, R. Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1937.
The Book of Aeroplanes, with Noel D. Green. London, Wells Gardner & Darton, 1937.
Railways, with Noel D. Green. London Wells Gardner & Darton, 1937
Ships, with Noel D. Green. London, Wells Gardner & Darton, 1937.
Building with Steel, with Noel D. Green. London, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1937.
Electricity, with Noel D. Green. London, Wells, Gardner & Darton, 1937.
The Prime Mover, with Noel D. Green. London, Wells, Gardner & Darton, 1937.
Travel And Invention In The Modern World: A Book For The Young Of All Ages, ed. with W. S. Shears. Virtue & Co. [Virtue's Treasury of Knowledge series],1937.
From Log to Liner. London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd. [The Science in Action Series], 1938.
Time and It's Reckoning, with Noel D. Green. London, Wells Gardner, & Darton & Co., 1938.
The Modern Workshop and Workshop Practice. London, Wells, Gardner & Co, 1939.
Communications, wire and wireless. London, Wells, Gardner & Co., 1940.
Welding and Flame Cutting, with Noel D. Green. London, Percival Marshall, 1940.
Gauges and Gauging. London, Percival Marshall, 1940. [This was originally a series of articles by Way published in Model Engineer in the late 1930s.]
My First Book of Trains. Edinburgh, T Nelson & Sons, 1941.
My First Book of Aircraft. Edinburgh, T Nelson & Sons, 1941.
Trains. Edinburgh, T. Nelson & Sons, 1941.
The Splendid Trains. Edinburgh, T Nelson & Sons, 1943. [All coloured illustrations]
The Splendid Aircraft. Edinburgh, T Nelson & Sons, 1943. [All coloured illustrations]
The Railway Giants. Edinburgh, T Nelson & Sons, 1943. [All coloured illustrations]
Aeroplane pictures. Edinburgh, T Nelson & Sons, 1943. [All coloured illustrations]
Meet The Locomotive. London, Ian Allan for Transportation Press Ltd, 1945.
Streamlined Trains. London, Findon Publications, 1945.
Contractors' Plant and Machinery. London, Crosby, Lockwood & Son, 1946.
How to make an Electric Clock. London, Percival Marshall & Co. Ltd., 1946.
Engine Power, with Noel D. Green. Redhill, Surrey, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., Ltd. [The modern how it works series], 1948.
British Passenger Locomotives, with Reginald W. Wardale. Redhill,Surrey, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [A Quick Spotter Book], 1948.
Rockets & Jets, with Noel D. Green. Redhill, Surrey, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1949.
Atomic Power. Redhill, Surrey, Wells Gardener Darton & Co Ltd, 1949.
Freight & Mixed Traffic Locomotives, with Reginald W. Wardale. Redhill, Surrey, Wells Gardener Darton & Co Ltd [Quickspotter Series No.2], 1949.
The Secondhand Car Owner, with Noel D. Green. Redhill, Surrey, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1952.
Woodworking at Home, with Noel D. Green. Redhill, Surrey, Wells, Gardner & Darton, 1952.
Metalworking at Home, with Noel D. Green. Redhill, Surrey, Wells, Gardner & Darton, 1952.
All on Wheels. Edinburgh, Thomas Nelson, & Sons, 1952. [Illustrations of road vehicles with descriptive text]
Electric Power, with Noel D. Green. Redhill Surrey, Wells Gardner Darton & Co., 1952.
The Home Decorator, with Noel D. Green. Redhill, Surrey, Wells Gardner & Darton, 1952.
Water Power, with Noel D. Green. Redhill, Surrey, Wells, Garner, Darton & Co., 1952.
The Story of British Locomotives. London, Methuen [Methuen Outlines], 1953.
The Ian Allan Book of Trains. London, Ian Allan, 1958.
My Train Book. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons (Little Hercules), 1958?

Illustrated books
The world's railways by G. Gibbard Jackson. London, Raphael Tuck, 1920.
Tuck's Annual with Realistic Surprise Panoramas. London, Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1925. [Illustrated by Frank Adams, Molly Benatar, T. Cuneo, R. Barnard Way]
Motorboating for All : A Practical Handbook on the Construction by A. H. Linley Jones. London, Percival Marshall & Co, n.d. [c.1920/30's].
The World of Machines by Percy M. Baker. London, Wells Gardner & Darton, 1928.
More Machines by Percy M. Baker. London, Wells Gardner & Darton. 1929.
Still more machines by Percy M. Baker. London, Wells Gardner & Darton, 1930.
Tuck's Annual, London, Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd, c.1930. [Illustrated by C. E. Brock, T. Cuneo, Gareth Hamilton, R B Ogle, R Barnard Way]
Boys Own Annual, vol 54, 1932. [Colour plate of L. M. S. Engine No. 6169 4-6-0 "Royal Scot" Class painted by R Barnard Way.]
Wild Harbour by Ian Macpherson. London, Methuen , 1936, [R. B. Way drew the endpapers]
The King. The Story and Splendour of British Monarchy by W. S. Shears; illus. with W. Lendon. London, Hutchinson, 1937.
Thrilling Book for Boys. London, Dean & Son Ltd. c.1937. [with others]
How to read workshop drawings by W. Longland. London, Percival Marshall, 1938.
1001 mechanical facts made easy by Percivala Marshall. London, Percival Marshall & Co 1940.
The .303 Lewis Gun by G. Jacklin & D. Whipp. London, Nicholson & Watson [No. 2 in “Know Your Weapons” series] , 1941.
Street and guerilla fighting by Derek Whipp. London, Nicholson and Watson [“Know Your Weapons” series no.4], 1942.
The World’s Railways and how they work. London, Odhams Press Ltd, c.1945 [RBW made a number of the cutaway drawings, others were by Ashwell Wood.]
Triumphs of Engineering. London, Odhams Press Ltd, c.1945 [RBW made most of the cutaway drawings.]
Miracles of Invention and Discovery. London, Odhams Press Ltd, c.1945 [RBW made some of the cutaway drawings. Others were by Ashwell Wood and LGG [ L G Goodwin].]
Oil-Burning Locomotive by Richard James Eaton. London, Transportation Press 1947.
This England by W. S. Shears; maps by RBW. London, Hutchinson, 1949.
I drove the 'Cheltenham Flyer' by James William Street. London, Nicholson & Watson: London, 1951.
Bridges by Leonora Fry. London, Methuen [Methuen’s Get to Know series], 1951.
Factories and Workshops by Elin Walsh. London, Methuen & Co. 1952.
2750: Legend of a Locomotive by Harry Webster. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, Ltd., 1953.
Growth of Mechanical Power by Miles Tomalin. London, Methuen & Co, 1954.
Railways for Britain by Patrick Thornhill. London, Methuen & Co. 1954.
Boys' Book of the Air, ed. Eric Leyland & T. E. Scott-Chard, illus. with John T. Kenney. London, Edmund Ward Limited, 1957. Illustrated by R Barnard Way and John T Kenney .
Fun with Radio by Gilbert Davey; illus with B. Gerry. London, Edmund Ward, Ltd 1957.
Ship's Captain [Men of Action Series] by Eric Leyland. London, Edmund Ward Limited, Ltd, 1958.
Mining Machinery and Transport by D. Le Jeune. London, Virtue and Co. Limited, 1959. [Coal mining series, editor E. Mason. Describes machinery associated with the mining and transport of coal].
The Children's Book of Achievement: Wonders of Modern Enterprise ed. J. E. Pryde-Hughes. London, Collins. 1960. [Contributors include C.A. Burland, Gilbert Murray, Edwin Vernon, R. Barnard Way.]

Additional notes
Robert Barnard Way was born at Regents Park, London, on 16 July 1890, the son of Thomas Robert Way and his wife Amy Ellen (nee Cox). He married Gertrude Irene Potter at Linthorpe, Yorkshire, on 19 December 1917 and had three children before she died at Canterbury, Kent, on 16 January 1924. Way married again, to Minnie Isabel Pratten, on 12 September 1926 and had a further two children. He died at Hendon on 18 September 1958.

Further additional notes

A Tuck pictorial postcard

Gordon Howsden, an authority on cigarette cards, has been in touch to say that R. Barnard Way illustrated and wrote the texts for a number of cards produced by Mardon Son & Hall, a printing firm based in Bristol. They produced the vast majority of the cards issued by the Imperial Tobacco Group, which included Churchman, Ogdens and Wills. Way worked entirely on railway themes.

Empire Railways (50 cards, Churchman, 1931)
Famous Railway Trians (25 cards + two series of 12 large cards, Churchman, 1928-29; a similar set of standard-sized cards were issued by BAT overseas)
Landmarks in Railway Progress (two series of 12 large cards, Churchman, 1931-32)
Railway Working (two series of 25 cards, two series of 12 large cards and one series of 13 large cards, Churchman, 1926-27; a similar series of standard-sized cards issued by BAT overseas and as brand issues by Player and Wills)
Wonderful Railway Travel (50 cards + a series of 12 large cards, Churchman, 1935-37)
Construction of Railway Trains (50 cards, Ogdens, 1930)
Railway Engines (50 cards, W. D. & H. O. Wills, 1924; a similar series issued by Imperial Tobacco Co. of Canada and, with some subjects changed, by BAT as a Wills' brand issue)
Railway Locomotives (50 cards, W. D. & H. O. Wills, 1930)

Cigarette cards showing technical details, plus the texts printed on the reverse

Way also produced three series of postcards on railway themes for Tucks and a series of adverts for G. D. Peters & Co. of Slough (supplier of railway equipment) that were published in Railway Gazette from 1948 onwards, and had letters published in Railway Gazette on 27 April 1951 and 25 May 1951 regarding the lettering BR was using at that time. His address was given as 3 Walden Road, Welwyn Garden City, Herts.