Thomas Somerfield

THOMAS SOMERFIELD
by
Robert J. Kirkpatrick

Thomas Somerfield was once known to two or three generations of readers of the boys’ story paper Chums as a prolific illustrator of adventure and historical stories. He also contributed to several other periodicals from 1904 onwards, and he also illustrated several boys’ novels as well as two or three girls’ stories and a couple of books for younger readers, but he is now completely forgotten.

He was born on 26 December 1876 at Ecclesall Bierlow, Sheffield, and baptised in the Parish Church at Heeley (now a suburb of Sheffield). His father was Thomas Somerfield, born in Ecclesall Bierlow in 1850, a surgical instrument maker who also patented several (non-surgical) inventions. His mother was Annie, née Memmott, born in Sheffield in 1853. Thomas was the first of their five children. At the time of the 1881 census the family was living at 209 Richard Road, Heeley. Ten years later, they were recorded at 16 Bradwell Street, Heely.

Thomas junior was educated at the Sheffield Central School before entering the Sheffield School of Art in 1897, where he went on to be a regular prize-winner.

His career as an illustrator appears to have begun in 1904, when he began contributing caricatures and illustrations for short stories in The Sheffield Weekly Telegraph. At the same time he also contributed to the Amalgamated Press’s The Boys’ Friend, and two years later, having moved to London, he began contributing to Cassell’s Magazine and, most notably, to Cassell’s boys’ paper Chums. He went on to work for Chums until 1937, illustrating 16 adventure, mystery and historical serials by authors such as Lewis Hough, D.H. Parry, Eric W. Townsend, George E. Rochester, John Hunter and Charles Gilson, and numerous short stories.

On 9 July 1908, at St. Luke’s Church, Chelsea. He married Edith Absolon, born on 25 June 1883 and the daughter of Philip de Mansfield Absolon, whose father was the illustrator John Absolon. Thomas was living at 49 Danvers Street, Chelsea, at that time, but after the marriage he and Edith moved to “Chelsey,” 18 Beverley Road, New Malden, Surrey, where they had their only child, Denis Hugh, born on 4 June 1911.

By then, Thomas had begun contributing to various other periodicals, including The Red Magazine, The New Magazine and The Wide World Magazine, and up until just after the outbreak of the First World War he went on to contribute to Cassell’s Magazine of Fiction, The Strand Magazine (for which one of his contributions was two illustrations for an article, “Stranger Than Fiction,” by Arthur Conan Doyle in December 1915), and The Boy’s Own Paper (for which he illustrated several short stories plus four serials including one by Percy F. Westerman).

On 21 June 1916 he joined the Royal Naval Air Service, serving as an Aircraftsman until he was transferred to the RAF Reserve in February 1919 and discharged on 30 April 1920.

He had also begun illustrating children’s books in 1913, beginning with Jack Corvit, Patrol Leader, a boy scouts story written by V.R. Nendick and published by C. Arthur Pearson, and, in sharp contrast, My Book About the Post Office, written by Edith Robarts and published by Blackie & Son the following year. He went to illustrate a further ten or so books until 1923, including two stories by May Wynne.  In the meantime, he had also been contributing to The Yellow Magazine, The Detective Magazine, and to the boys’ magazines The Captain and The Scout.

He appears to have concentrated on his work for Chums after the mid-1920s, although seven more boys’ adventure stories appeared with his illustrations between 1935 and 1937, all published by George G. Harrap & Co. He had also contributed to a small number of children’s annuals and story collections, such as The Boys’ Treasury, The Brown Book for Boys, The Oxford Annual for Scouts, and Jolly Pets (published by Blackie).

By 1930, he had moved to 26 Beverley Road, New Malden, which is where he died on 21 February 1937, leaving an estate valued at £1,751 (just over £100,000 in today’s terms). His wife remained at that address until her death at the Royal Hospital, Richmond, on 2 January 1947 – she left £668, with probate granted to her son Denis, then working as a commercial artist. (He occasionally exhibited his paintings, for example at the Royal Academy in 1941, and he also worked as the publicity artist for The Daily Mail. He died in Woking in May 1986.)

PUBLICATIONS

Books illustrated by Thomas Somerfield
Jack Corvit, Patrol Leader, or Always a Scout by V.R. Nendick, C. Arthur Pearson, 1913  
My Book About the Post Office by Edith Robarts, Blackie & Son, 1914
Wonders of the Post by Edith Robarts, Blackie & Son, 1915
The Buried Treasure by R.G. Wood, George Newnes Ltd., 1915
Kitchener’s Army and the Territorial Forces: The Full Story of a Great Achievement by Edgar Wallace, George Newnes Ltd., 1915
Round the Camp Fire by Herbert Strang, Oxford University Press, 1917
Stories of War and Peace by Herbert Strang, Oxford University Press, 1917
Mervyn, Jock or Joe by May Wynne, Blackie & Son, 1921
The White Man’s Trail: A Story of Adventure and Mystery in the Canadian Wilds by Robert Leighton, C. Arthur Pearson, 1922
Christmas at Holford: A Story of Exciting Holidays by May Wynne, Blackie & Son, 1922
The People of the Chasm by Christopher Beck, C. Arthur Pearson, 1923
A Heather Holiday by May Wynne, Blackie & Son, 1923
The Vicar’s Little Treat by Gregson Gow, Blackie & Son, 1929
Romany Wonder Tales by Frederick I. Cowles, George G. Harrap & Co., 1935
The Menace of the Terribore: A Modern Adventure Story by John Dolben Mackworth, George G. Harrap & Co., 1936 (with Reginald Mills)
The Sanctuary of the Maidar by A. Lloyd Owen, George G. Harrap & Co., 1936 (with Reginald Mills)
The Secret Aeroplane by D.E. Marsh, George G. Harrap & Co., 1936
Red-Leg Morgan by William Macmillan, George G. Harrap & Co., 1936
The Fighting “Seagull” by D.E. Marsh, George G. Harrap & Co., 1937
The Rajah of Gungra by D.E. Marsh, George G. Harrap & Co., 1937