H M Paget

H.M. PAGET

by

Robert J. Kirkpatrick

H.M. Paget was best-known for his work with illustrated papers such as The Graphic and The Sphere between around 1880 and the outbreak of the First World War. Like many of his contemporaries, he also painted in oils and watercolours, exhibiting widely and regularly, and he was also a versatile book illustrator, remembered now for his illustrations for five of G.A. Henty’s boys’ novels. To some extent, his work (along with that of his brother Walter) has been overlooked in favour of that by another brother, Sidney, who was famous for his Sherlock Holmes illustrations in The Strand Magazine between 1891 and 1904.

H.M. Paget was born on 31 December 1856 at 41 Cumming Street, Clerkenwell, and baptized, as Henry Marriott Paget, on 20 June 1869 at St. Mark’s Church, Myddleton Square, Finsbury, alongside two of his younger siblings. His father, Robert Paget, born in Rodborough, Gloucestershire, in 1820) was the Vestry Clerk at St. James’s and St. John’s churches in Clerkenwell. His mother, Martha (née Clarke), born in Atherstone, Warwickshire, in 1830, was a Professor of Music. They had married on 2 June 1853 in London, and went on to have ten children between 1854 and 1872, including the future artists Sidney Edward Paget (born in 1860) and Walter Stanley Paget (born in 1862).

While the Paget family spent many years in Pentonville Road, Finsbury (they were living at no. 60 at the time of the 1861 census, and at no. 42 ten years later) Henry was educated for a while at Atherstone Grammar School, in Warwickshire, presumably staying with his maternal grandparents. He then attended the Middle Class School of London at Cowper Street (known locally as Dr. Wormell’s School), before going on study at Heatherley’s School of Art in Newman Street, Fitzrovia (alongside Samuel Butler) before entering the Royal Academy Schools in 1874. He went on to exhibit at the Royal Academy 11 times between 1879 and 1894, after exhibiting his first painting at the Dudley Gallery, Piccadilly, in 1878.

On 4 September 1879, at the Holy Trinity Church, Bromley, Kent, he married Henrietta Farr, born in 1852 and the daughter of Dr. William Farr, an epidemiologist and one of the founders of medical statistics. They moved from Henry’s address at 17 Fitzroy Street, Fitzrovia, to Milton Lodge, 5 The Avenue, Acton, Middlesex, where they had two children: Gladys Mary (1880) and Dorothy (1882). They subsequently moved to 1 The Orchard, Bedford Park, Ealing, where they had two more children: Ferrand (1888) and Geoffrey Walter (1890).

In the meantime, Henry had spent five years with the 20th Middlesex (Artists’) Rifle Volunteer Corps, joining in 1879 (when it was the 38th Middlesex Corps – it became the 20th in September 1880), being promoted from Sergeant to Second Lieutenant and finally to Lieutenant before resigning his commission in February 1885.

His career as an illustrator began in 1879, when he illustrated his first book (a re-issue of Martha Macdonald Lamont’s historical novel The Gladiator). In 1881 he joined the staff of The Graphic, remaining there until 1910. His black and white illustrations covered a wide variety of themes – scenes from plays and operas, Royal events, celebratory dinners and ceremonies, political events and portraits. His work also appeared in other periodicals throughout the 1880s and 1890s, including The Pictorial World, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, The Illustrated Naval and Military Magazine, The Quiver, The Woman’s World, The Illustrated London News, Harper’s Bazar, The Boy’s Own Paper and The Windsor Magazine.

He also illustrated a wide variety of books, perhaps becoming best-known for his illustrations for five of G.A. Henty’s novels between 1882 and 1898. In 1891 he began an association with The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, illustrating at least 15 of its novels between 1891 and 1895. He was also chosen to illustrate three of A. & C. Black’s re-issues of Walter Scott’s Waverely novels (Kenilworth, The Talisman and Quentin Durward). He also had a long association with Cassell & Co., providing illustrations for part-works such as Cassell’s Illustrated Bible, Cassell’s History of England and A History of Modern Europe, and books such as The Plays of William Shakespeare.

He continued to exhibit paintings – for example at the Grosvenor Galley (1882), The Fine Art Society (1884), The Glasgow Institute of Fine Art (1885), The Dublin Art Club (1886), and the Berlin Jubilee Art Exhibition (1886 – he was one of 50 artists chosen to represent Britain). In 1888 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. He also regularly had his work exhibited in Cassell & Co.’s annual black and white exhibition of original drawings.

There is very little in the way of critical analysis of Paget’s work, although James Thorpe, in English Illustration: The Nineties, commented that he “was an efficient illustrator, using black-and-white in the manner of the water-colour artist.”

As a resident of Bedford Park, which had become something of an artistic and literary colony, he became closely involved in local activities, for example acting and designing costumes and scenery with the Bedford Park Club, and becoming a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, an organization founded in 1887 dedicated to the occult, and whose members included W.B. Yeats, Algernon Blackwood, Bram Stoker, Arthur Machen, Sax Rohmer, Edith Nesbit, and his wife and her sister Florence (a well-known actress).

On 22 August 1891 the entire Paget family, around 20 in number, were holidaying at Hayling Island, near Portsmouth. Some members of the family were on board a yacht, and Henry’s sisters Helen and Edith, along with two other young women, were in a small boat taking them out to the yacht when it capsized. Henry and his brother Arthur, who had been watching from the shore, immediately swam out to try and rescue them, but sadly Helen, along with the boatman, drowned. A few months later, in January 1892, the Hampshire coroner presented Henry and Arthur with a Bronze Medal from the Royal Humane Society in recognition of their bravery.

In 1898 Henry and his family moved to 76 Parkhill Road, Hampstead. For some reason, Henry’s work as a book illustrator almost ground to a halt – between 1898 and his death some 38 years later he only illustrated 10 books, although he continued working for The Graphic, and his work also began appearing in The British Workman, The Pall Mall Magazine, Little Folks and The Field.  Most importantly, however, in 1908 he joined the staff of The Sphere, for which his brother Walter had been working since its launch in 1900. In 1909 he was sent to Canada, and in 1912 he was sent to Constantinople to cover the Balkan War, and was the only artist in the city when Nazim Pasha, the Chief of Staff of the Ottoman Army, was assassinated on 23 January 1913 – Paget subsequently produced a double-page drawing of the event which was published in The Sphere on 8 February 1913.

In 1916 he joined the Royal Engineers as a Temporary Captain, and served in France organizing camouflage work. After leaving in 1919, he appears to have settled into retirement, remaining at 76 Parkhill Road until his death, which occurred on 27 March 1936. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 1 April. He left an estate valued at £1,527 (around £95,000 in today’s terms).

His wife was also a painter and illustrator, although only a very small scale. She is credited with illustrating at least one book, Little Margit and Other Stories by M.A. Hoyer, published by Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh, in 1887, and she exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1906 and 1907. She died at 3 Talgarth Road, Ferring-on-Sea, Sussex, on 4 October 1947, leaving £2,703.

PUBLICATIONS

Books illustrated by H.M. Paget
The Gladiator: A Life Under the Roman Empire in the Beginning of the Third Century by Martha Macdonald Lamont, C. Kegan Paul, 1879 (re-issue)
The Princess: A Medley by Alfred Tennyson, C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1880
British Ballads, Old and New selected by George Barnett Smith, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1881 (with other artists)
Winning His Spurs: A Tale of the Crusades by G.A. Henty, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1882
Castle Warlock: A Homely Romance by George MacDonald, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1882
Bedford Park, Harrison & Sons, 1882 (with other artists)
Cassell’s Illustrated Bible, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1882 (part-work) (with other artists)
The Royal Shakspere, Cassell & Co., 1885 (with other artists)
Through the Fray: A Tale of the Luddite Riots by G.A. Henty, Blackie & Son, 1886
The Bravest of the Brave, or With Peterborough in Spain by G.A. Henty, Blackie & Son, 1886
Cassell’s History of England, Cassell & Co., 1886 (part-work) (with other artists)
Home Again by George MacDonald, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1887
Our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria by Thomas Archer, Blackie & Son, 1887 (with other artists)
To the Lions: A Tale of the Early Christians by Alfred John Church, Seeley & Co., 1889
Micah Clarke: His Statement as Made to his Three Grandchildren, by Arthur Conan Doyle, Longmans, Green & Co., 1889 (with H.R. Millard)
Shakespeare Pictures, Ernest Nister, 1890 (with W. Paget)
Jan by Mrs Newman, S.P.C.K., 1891
A High Resolve by Cecilia Selby Lowndes, S.P.C.K., 1891
The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician by Edwin Lester Arnold, Chatto & Windus, 1891
Darby and Joan by Frederick E. Weatherly, Castell Brothers, 1891
Pickwick Pictures: A Series of Character Sketches from Pickwick Papers, Ernest Nister, 1891
Burns Pictures by Robert Anning Bell, Ernest Nister, 1891
The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson, Cassell & Co., 1891 (re-issue)
A History of Modern Europe by C.A. Fyffe, Cassell & Co., 1891 (part-work) (with other artists)
Another Man’s Burden: A Tale of Love and Duty by Austin Clare, S.P.C.K., 1892
Julie by Alice F. Jackson, S.P.C.K., 1892
The Conroy Cousins by Edward N. Hoare, S.P.C.K., 1892
A Life’s Labour: A Story of West Yorkshire by Emily Margaret Mason, S.P.C.K., 1892
Twilight: A Story of Two Villages by Annette M. Lyster, S.P.C.K., 1893
Jennifer’s Fortune by Amy Key Clarke, S.P.C.K., 1893
The Plays of William Shakespeare edited and annotated by Charles & Mary Cowden Clarke, Cassell & Co., 1893 (with other artists)
Kenilworth  by Walter Scott, A. & C. Black, 1893 (re-issue)
Master Molyneux: A Tale by Lady Dunboyne, S.P.C.K., 1894
Enchanted Ground by Catharine E. Smith, S.P.C.K., 1894
Was it in Vain? By Gertrude E.M. Vaughan, S.P.C.K., 1894
Quentin Durward by Walter Scott, A. & C. Black, 1894 (re-issue)
The Talisman by Walter Scott, A. & C. Black, 1894 (re-issue)
The Man in Black by Stanley John Weyman, Cassell & Co., 1894 (with W. Paget) (re-issue)
Crossing the Ferry, or From Old England to New Brunswick: A Tale by George Robert Wynne, S.P.C.K., 1894
A Silver Cord by Alan St. Aubyn, S.P.C.K., 1895
Richard Kennaway’s Wife by Annette M. Lyster, S.P.C.K., 1895
Pictures from Dickens with Readings, Ernest Nister, 1895 (with other artists)
Annals of Westminster Abbey by Emily Tennyson Bradley, Cassell & Co., 1895 (with other artists)
Captain Bayley’s Heir: A Tale of the Gold Fields of California by G.A. Henty, Blackie & Son, 1896
Merry Hearts: A Volume of Stories by various authors, Ernest Nister, 1896 (with other artists)
Simple Stories from English History, Longmans, Green & Co., 1896 (with other artists)
With Moore at Corunna: A Tale of the Peninsular War by G.A. Henty, Blackie & Son, 1898
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith, Ernest Nister, 1898 (re-issue)
South Africa and the Transvaal War by Louis Creswicke, T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1900-01 (part-work) (with other artists)
In Strange Company and other stories by various authors, Ward, Lock & Co., 1901
Christmas: Its Origins and Associations by W.F. Dawson, Elliot Stock, 1902 (with other artists)
Sketches in Verse by H.R. Richardson, privately published, 1904 (with other artists)
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens, G.D. Sproul, 1904 (re-issue)
The Wolf Patrol: A Story of Baden-Powell’s Boy Scouts by John Finnemore, A. & C. Black, 1908
A Brotherhood of Heroes: Being Memorials of Charles, George and William Napier selected and arranged by Stephen Gwynn, A.R. Mowbray, 1910
Letters to the New Island by W.B. Yeats, Harvard University Press, 1934