George Morrow

GEORGE MORROW

by

Robert J. Kirkpatrick

George Morrow was best-known as a cartoonist and comic illustrator, but he also illustrated several children’s books, aimed at a very wide range of ages.

He was born in Belfast on 5 September 1869, the son of George Morrow, a painter and decorator of 22 North Queen Street, Belfast, and a younger brother of the illustrator Albert Morrow. There is no record of the family’s addresses in 1871, 1881 and 1891, as all the Irish census records for those years were destroyed, although it is known that the family business was at 22 North Queen Street, Belfast, and, from 1895 onwards, at 40 Clifton Street, Belfast.

Like his brother Albert, George was educated at the Belfast Model School and then, from 1887 to 1891 at the Belfast Government School of Art (where he helped establish a drama group from the School’s Sketching Club). He was also active in his local community, painting scenes and decorations for events at the Presbyterian Church and the Belfast YMCA. In 1891 he was awarded a three-year scholarship to the National Art Training Schools in South Kensington. Some sources say that he was apprenticed to a signwriter, although when this was is apparently not recorded. It is also said that he studied in Paris, although again it is not known exactly when this was.

By the mid-1890s he was living in Chelsea. His earliest known work as a book illustrator appeared in 1896, in a book by Mary Russell Mitford and published by Macmillan & Co. Two years later he illustrated his first children’s book, a novel set in the Napoleonic era written by Frank Cowper and published by Seeley & Co., for whom he went on to illustrate several more historical and adventure stories.

His career as an illustrator for periodicals also began in 1896, when he contributed cartoons to Pick-Me-Up. He went on to contribute to many more periodicals, including The Idler, The Tatler, The Jabberwock, The Pall Mall Magazine, Printers’ Pie, Black and White, The Sphere, The Sketch, The Graphic, Pearson’s Magazine, The Strand Magazine, The Windsor Magazine, The Pall Mall Gazette, The Captain, Flying, Land and Water, The Landswoman, The Radio Times, The Yorkshire Evening Post, The Sheffield Weekly Telegraph, The London Mercury, The Bookman, T.P.’s Magazine and The Bystander. He also contributed to Irish periodicals such as Ulad, a magazine associated with the Ulster Literary Theatre, in 1905; The Shanachie, a short-lived cultural magazine, in 1906-1907; and the separatist magazine The Republic.

In 1900 he began a long collaboration with Edward Verrall Lucas, the travel writer and essayist – they worked together on around a dozen books, often alongside Charles L. Graves, on a series of whimsical and satirical books – one of their best-loved works was What a Life! An Autobiography, which constructed an imaginary story of an English aristocrat from birth to baronetcy from advertisements cut out from a catalogue issued by Whiteleys (a London department store – Harrods had refused permission for one of its catalogues to be used). As Lucas wrote: “One man searching the pages of Whiteley’s General Catalogue will find only facts and prices; another will find what we have found – a deeply-moving human drama.”

At the time of the 1901 census Morrow was sharing 1 Albert Studios, Albert Bridge Road, Battersea, with his brother Edwin, who was then an art student. He subsequently moved to 123 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, and in 1905 he returned to Ireland briefly and in April that year, at Ballyclare Presbyterian Church, Antrim, he married Mary Matilda McCracken, a nurse from Dublin born on 30 March 1873 in Monaghan, and the daughter of the Rev. William John McCracken and Rachel Ann née Harris.

In 1906 he began contributing to Punch, initially illustrating E.V. Lucas’s articles. He was soon contributing cartoons – 2,704 in total – and in 1924 he joined the Punch staff, and served as the magazine’s Art Editor between 1932 and 1937, after which he retired. However, demands on the magazine’s staff made by the Second World War led to him being recalled and appointed Assistant Editor in 1940. An exhibition of 150 of his original Punch drawings was held at the Belfast Municipal Art Gallery in 1945.

He was also an active painter, exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1904,  and with the Royal Society of British Artists and the Belfast Art Society. He was a member of London’s Pen and pencil Club, along with some of his brothers, and in 1912 he was one of the founder members of the Society of Humorous Art. In a review of the Society’s first exhibition The Pall Mall Gazette noted: “Mr George Morrow’s bland humour is, of course, familiar to everybody. He has a simple and naïve technique, with an eighteenth-century air about it that does not quite bring his people and their surroundings into the twentieth century, but his types are of the invariable kind that require no explanation. In an especial degree he is the portraitist of the foolish person, male or female, with the sloping brow and the receding chin.”

He often signed his paintings and illustrations “Geo. M.” or “Geo. Morrow.”

From 1900 onwards he illustrated a wide variety of books, including several comic books by writers including E.V. Lucas, A.P. Herbert and Archibald Marshall; historical and adventure stories, books of verse, fairy stories and geography, history and language books for young children, demonstrating his versatility.

He seems to have contributed to only a few annuals – these included The Girls’ Budget, The Toc H Annual, The Punch Almanack and Pear’s Annual.

He also published a handful of books under his own name, most notably three collections of cartoons issued by Methuen & Co. in 1920, 1921 and 1928.

Despite his increasing commitments as an illustrator, he also found time to teach evening classes, as he was recorded in the 1911 census as a book illustrator and art teacher with the London County Council, living at 27 Dryburgh Road, Putney, south-west London.

In the 1939 Register he was recorded at Bridgefont House, Great Easton Dunmow, Essex, still working as a book illustrator and Punch cartoonist. However, only three books with his illustrations have been traced after 1939, these appearing in 1948 and 1951.

He and his wife (they did not have any children) may have separated after the Second World War. She died on 23 March 1953 at 89 Penthill Avenue, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset, with administration of her estate (valued at £15,929) granted to a local solicitor. George Morrow himself died at Oak Cottage, Bardfield End Green, Thaxted, Essex, on 18 January 1955 (a month after his last cartoon appeared in Punch), leaving an estate valued at £2,116.

His obituaries, understandably, emphasized his work as a comic illustrator and cartoonist – The Times, for example (20 January 1955) commenting that “He was probably the most consistently comic artist of his day.” However, as his illustrations for other books demonstrate, he was much more than just a cartoonist, and was capable of producing action scenes for historical and adventure stories which bore comparison with many other illustrators.

PUBLICATIONS

Books written/compiled by George Morrow
What a Life! An Autobiography by E.V.L. & G.M., Methuen & Co., 1911
An Alphabet of the War, Jarrold & Sons, 1915
A Catalogue of Next-Ray Tubes, Perpetrated by the All-Lies Every-Needy Corporation, privately published, 1919
George Morrow: His Book (with an introduction by E.V. Lucas), Methuen & Co., 1920
More Morrow, Methuen & Co., 1921
The Problem of a Career by John Arthur Robert Cairns, J.W. Arrowsmith, 1926 (with other authors)
Some More: A Book of Drawings, Methuen & Co., 1928

Books illustrated by George Morrow
Country Stories by Mary Russell Mitford, Macmillan & Co., 1896
The Island of the English: A Story of Napoleon’s Days by Frank Cowper, Seeley & Co., 1898
A Nest of Skylarks: A Story by M.E. Whatham, Seeley & Co., 1898
Heroes of Chivalry and Romance by Alfred John Church, Seeley & Co., 1898
The Story of Burnt Njal by George Dasent, Grant Richards, 1900
What Shall We Do Now? A Book of Suggestions for Children’s Games and Employments by E.V. & E. Lucas, Grant Richards, 1900
The Treasure of the Castle: A Story for Children by Doris L. Wheeler, Grant Richards, 1902
Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France by Alfred John Church, Seeley & Co., 1902
The Scaramouche Club by Raymond Jacberns, Grant Richards, 1903
Little Snow-White and Other Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm, trans. by Brinsley Le Fanu, Stead’s Publishing House, 1903
Under Cheddar Cliffs a Hundred Years Ago: A Story by Edith Seeley, Seeley & Co., 1903
England Day by Day: A Guide to Efficiency and Prophetic Calendar for 1904 by E.V. Lucas & Charles L. Graves, Methuen & Co. 1903
Stories from Irish History, Told for Children by Stephen Gwynn, Browne & Nolan (Dublin), 1904
The Crusaders: A Story of the War for the Holy Sepulchre by Alfred John Church, Seeley & Co., 1905
Change for a Halfpenny: Being the Prospectus of the Napolio Syndicate by E.V. Lucas & Charles L. Graves, Alston Rivers, 1905
The Game of Ju-Jitsu: For the Use of Schools and Colleges by Taro Miyake & Yukio Tani, Hazell, Watson & Viney, 1906
The House in the Wood and Other Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm, “Books for the Bairns” Office, 1906
The Crown of Pine: A Story of Corinth and the Isthmian Games by Alfred John Church, Seeley & Co., 1906
Signs of the Times, or The Hustlers’ Almanack for 1907 by E.V. Lucas & Charles L. Graves, Alston Rivers, 1906
Adventures in the Great Deserts by H.W.G. Hyrst, Seeley & Co., 1907 (with other artists)
Adventures on the Great Rivers by Richard Stead, Seeley & Co., 1907 (with other artists)
Familiar Faces (Verses) by Harry Graham, E. Arnold, 1907
The Captain of the Wright: A Romance of Carisbrooke Library in 1488 by Frank Cowper, Seeley & Co., 1907 (re-issue)
Potted Game: Some Triflings with the Highly Serious Subject of Sport by Max Rittenberg, Organiser Publishing & Exhibition Co., 1908
Hustled History, or As It Might Have Been by E.V. Lucas & Charles L. Graves, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1908
If: A Nightmare in the Conditional Mood by E.V. Lucas & Charles L. Graves, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1908
Puck Among the Pictures: The Comic Guide to the Royal Academy by Walter Emanuel, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1908 (with Norman Morrow)
Cambridge by J.W. Clark, Seeley & Co., 1908
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, T. Nelson & Sons, 1908 (re-issue)
Musical Monstrosities by Charles L. Graves, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1909
Farthest from the Truth: A Series of Dashes by E.V. Lucas & Charles L. Graves, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1909
The Round of the Clock: “The Story of Our Lives from Year to Year” by Sir W. Robertson Nicoll, Hodder & Stoughton, 1910
Party Portraits and Other Verses by Charles. L. Graves, Smith, Elder & Co., 1911
London Stories: Being a Collection of the Lives and Adventures of Londoners in All Ages by “John O’London” (i.e. Wilfred Whitten), T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1911
The Devil in Solution by William Caine, Greening & Co., 1911
Boom! A Novel of the Century by William Caine, Greening & Co., 1911
A Nursery History of England by Elizabeth O’Neill, T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1912
In the Heart of Savagedom: Reminiscences of Life and Adventure During a Quarter of a Century of Pioneering Missionary Labours…. by Mrs Stuart Watt, Marshall Brothers, 1912 (with other artists)
Lancashire Stories ed. by Frank Hird, T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1912 (part-work) (with other artists)
A Flutter in Feathers by George Chater, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1913
Founded on Fiction (Verses) by Lady Sybil Grant, Mills & Boon, 1913
Loiterers Harvest by E.V. Lucas, Methuen & Co., 1913
All the Papers: A Journalistic Review by E.V. Lucas & Charles L. Graves, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1914
A French Picture Vocabulary, Together with a German Vocabulary by J.H.B. Lockhart, G. Bell & Sons, 1914
Swollen-Headed William: Painful Stories and Funny Pictures after the German adapted by E.V. Lucas, Methuen & Co., 1914
In Gentlest Germany, by Hun Svedend, by E.V. Lucas, J. Lane, 1915
The Children’s Entente Cordiale (Verses) by Leslie Mary Oyler, T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1915
Odd Creatures: A Selection by “Captain Kendall”, Constable & Co., 1915
Morals for the Young by William John Locke, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1915
The Odd Volume ed. by A. St. John Adcock, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1915 (with other artists)
Wild Sports of the West by W.H. Maxwell, The Talbot Press (Dublin), 1915(?) (re-issue)
A Nursery Geography by George S. Dickson, T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1916
The House Party Manual by Noel Ross, Cassell & Co., 1917
Lodgings to Let by Violet Brady, Oxford University Press, 1918
My First Book of Geography by George S. Dickson, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1919
Rescued by M.A. Petzsche, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1919
My First Book of English History by Elizabeth O’Neill, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1920
Podgy and I by Edwin Chisholm, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1920
Stories of Course by Hilda Finnemore, Basil Blackwell, 1921
Some Pirates and Marmaduke by E.A. Wyke Smith, John Lane, 1921
The House of the Ogress: A Story for Young Folks by William Edward Cule, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1921
The Wherefore and the Why: Some New Rhymes for Old Children by A.P. Herbert, Methuen & Co., 1921
Parodies Regained by E.V. Knox, Methuen & Co., 1921
The Last of the Baron by E.A. Wyke Smith, Oxford University Press, 1922
You Know What People Are by E.V. Lucas, Methuen & Co., 1922
Light Articles Only by A.P. Herbert, Methuen & Co., 1922
Tinker, Tailor: A Child’s Guide to the Professions by A.P. Herbert, Methuen & Co., 1922
Fiction as she is Wrote by E.V. Knox, Methuen & Co., 1923
Fancy Now by E.V. Knox, Methuen & Co., 1924
Elnovia: An Entertainment for Novel Readers by Geoffrey Cust Faber, Faber & Gwyer, 1925
Jugged Journalism by Anthony Berkeley, Herbert Jenkins, 1925
Laughing Ann, and Other Poems by A.P. Herbert, T. Fisher Unwin, 1925
Being Good Things lost and Found by John O’London, George Newnes Ltd., 1925
The Flying Carpet by various authors, S.W. Partridge & Co., 1926 (with other artists)
Dog Stories from “Punch”, Ingleby, 1926
Podgy at the Seaside by Edwin Chisholm, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1926(?)
The Marvellous Land of Snergs by E.A. Wyke Smith, Ernest Benn, 1927
Cinderella’s Garden by W. Macneile Dixon, Oxford University Press, 1927
Chuckles: The Story of a Small Boy by Margaret Gower, Methuen & Co., 1927
I’ll Tell the World! A Guide to the Greatness of England, mainly Intended for American Use by E.V. Knox, Chatto & Windus, 1927
Simple Stories from “Punch” by Archibald Marshall, J.M. Dent & Sons, 1927
The Story History of England by Elizabeth O’Neill, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1928
Marytary by Harry B. Creswell, Oxford University Press, 1928
Simple People by Archibald Marshall, George G. Harrap & Co., 1928
More London Stories by John O’London, George Newnes Ltd., 1928
Puffin, Puma & Co.: A Book of Children’s Verse by F. Gwynne Evans, Macmillan & Co., 1929
A Picture Book of the History of Our Own Land by Richard Wilson, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1929
Jim and the Dragon by Susan Tweedsmuir, Hodder & Stoughton, 1929
Birds and Beasts at Home by W. Gilhespy, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1929
Irish Countryside Songs arranged by Dr. Charles Wood, Stainer & Bell, 1929 (cover)
Here be Dragons: A Book of Children’s Verse by F. Gwynne Evans, Macmillan & Co., 1930
The Good Old Stories: A Selection of Famous Tales, Gresham Publishing Co., 1930 (with John Hassall & Helen Stratton)
Wisdom for the Wise by A.P. Herbert, Methuen & Co., 1930
The Book of Fleet Street ed. by Thomas Michael Pope, Cassell & Co., 1930 (with other artists)
Hurrah for the O-Pom-Pom: Stories of Gnomes and Elves by Agnes Grozier Herbertson, Thomas Nelson & Sons,
Nice Stories, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1931
Irish Airs by Dorothy Mabel Large, Constable & Co., 1932
The Birdikin Family by Archibald Marshall, J.M. Dent & Sons, 1932
The Death of the Dragon: New Fairy Tales by J.B. Morton, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1934
Ye Goode Olde Days by Ierne L. Plunket, Methuen & Co., 1934
Tironibus: A First Latin Reading Book by G.M. Lyne, E. Arnold, 1935 (with other artists)
Our Elizabeth in America by Florence Kilpatrick, Thornton Butterworth, 1936
Round the World by George S. Dickson, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1937
Had You Lived in London Then by Cecil Whitaker-Wilson, Methuen & Sons, 1937
The Favourite Wonder Book, The Daily Herald Office, 1937 (with other artists)
Golden Island: A Tale for Children by Eden Phillpotts, Michael Joseph, 1938
The Complete Home Entertainer, Odhams Press, 1941 (with other artists)
A Picture History for Boys and Girls by Richard Wilson, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1948
Inn-Signia, Whitbread & Co., 1948 (with other artists)
Human Needs by Michael Graham, The Cresset Press, 1951