Alfred Pearse (20 May 1855 – 1933), also known as A Patriot, was an English artist, author, campaigner and inventor.

Early life and education

Alfred Pearse was born 20 May 1855 at

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in North London. It was originally a medieval Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the are ...

. He was a fourth generation artist and son of celebrated decorative artist Joseph Salter Pearse (1822–1896) and Loveday Colbron (1825–1895). He studied at

West London School of Art The West London School of Art founded in either 1861 or 1862 as the Marylebone and West London School of Art, was an educational establishment in London, England. The school worked with the Science and Art Department in South Kensington and offere ...

and gained numerous prizes for drawing.

Career

As special artist and correspondent to ''The Sphere'', he was assigned to the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York's 1901 tour of New Zealand. Pearse designed posters campaigning for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. He drew a weekly cartoon for ''Votes for Women'' from 1909, and was also regularly published in ''The Illustrated London News'', ''Boy's Own Paper'' and ''Punch''. With

Laurence Housman Laurence Housman (; 18 July 1865 – 20 February 1959) was an English playwright, writer and illustrator whose career stretched from the 1890s to the 1950s. He studied art in London and worked largely as an illustrator during the first years o ...

and his sister

Clemence Housman Clemence Annie Housman (23 November 1861 – 6 December 1955) was an author, illustrator and activist in the women's suffrage movement. She was the sister of A. E. Housman and Laurence Housman. Her novels included ''The Were-Wolf'', ''Unknown Se ...

, he set up the

Suffrage Atelier Suffrage Atelier was an Artist collective, artists' collective campaigning for women's suffrage in England. It was founded in February 1909 by Laurence Housman, Clemence Housman and Alfred Pearse. Clemence was a writer, illustrator, and wood engr ...

. Pearse produced various artworks, cartoons and propaganda related to British efforts in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. From 11 September 1918 to March 1919, he held an honorary captain's commission in the

New Zealand Rifle Brigade The New Zealand Rifle Brigade (Earl of Liverpool's Own), affectionately known as The Dinks, was formed on 1 May 1915 as the third brigade of the New Zealand Division, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. During the First World War it fough ...

, NZEF, as official artist, painting the battle scenes in which the 1st NZRB figured. He was attached to Brigadier General Charles Melvill's headquarters and left London for France on 27 September 1918. He was a wood engraver, book illustrator and art critic, including for the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', and for eight years had been a member of

Joseph Barnby Sir Joseph Barnby (12 August 183828 January 1896) was an English composer and conductor. Life Barnby was born at York, as a son of Thomas Barnby, who was an organist. Joseph was a chorister at York Minster from the age of seven. His voice bro ...

Royal Choral Society The Royal Choral Society (RCS) is an amateur choir, based in London. History Formed soon after the opening of the Royal Albert Hall in 1871, the choir gave its first performance as the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society on 8 May 1872 – the choir' ...

. Amongst his inventions, he'd patented improvements to vehicle and cycle wheels, improvements relating to the frames of velocipedes, a method for animating advertising hoardings in 1908–1912, improvements in flying machines, devised a model air-ship for the October 1905 readers of ''

The Boy's Own Paper ''The Boy's Own Paper'' was a British story paper aimed at young and teenager, teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967. Publishing history The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract Society, as a means to enc ...

'' and a method of preserving shores. His son Denis Colbron Pearse (1883–1971) also was an illustrator.

Gallery

File:The Highland Clans (BM 2006,U.3367.l).jpg, The Highland Clans, ''

'', 1883 File:Pearse - Louis de Rougemont 1.jpg, Illustration from ''The Adventures of

Louis de Rougemont Louis De Rougemont (12 November 1847 – 9 June 1921) was a Swiss List of explorers, explorer who claimed to have had adventures in Australasia. Personal history "De Rougemont" was born Henri Louis Grin in 1847 in Gressy, Vaud, Switzerland. He l ...

'', 1899 File:Te Kooti's Warː Fight of Paparatu in 1865 (Battles of the nineteenth century, 1901).jpg, Fight at Paparatu in 1865 during

Te Kooti's War Te Kooti's War was among the last of the New Zealand Wars, the series of 19th-century conflicts in New Zealand between the Māori people, Māori and the colonising European settlers. It was fought in the Gisborne District, East Coast region and ...

, 1901 File:Battles of the nineteenth century (1901) (14761358984).jpg, ''It was Bayonet to Bayonet'', 1901. The Siege of Delhi in 1857 File:Force-feeding poster (suffragettes).jpg, Women's Social & Political Union poster, 1910
Artist: A Patriot File:Spirit of War YORAG 2006 2840-1.jpg, ''Spirit of War'', 1914 File:Three Germans Soldiers and a Vision YORAG 2006 817.jpg, ''The Angel of Mons'', 1915 File:St George leading the British YORAG 2006 827.jpg, ''

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

'', 1915

References

External links

* * * 1855 births 1933 deaths English cartoonists English children's book illustrators British political artists New Zealand Rifle Brigade (Earl of Liverpool's Own) {{england-artist-stub