Henry Matthew Brock (11 July 187521 July 1960) was a British

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

and landscape painter of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He was one of four artist brothers, all of them illustrators, who worked together in their family studio in Cambridge.

Biography

Born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, H. M. Brock was one of four sons of Edmund Brock (1841–1921), a specialist reader in

oriental languages Asia is home to hundreds of languages comprising several families and some unrelated isolates. The most spoken language families on the continent include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Japonic, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Turkic, ...

for the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, and his wife Mary Ann Louise (1836–1901) (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Peagram). H. M. Brock was the younger brother of the better-known artist Charles Edmund Brock, with whom he shared a studio from 1894. H. M. Brock studied at the

Cambridge School of Art Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public research university in the region of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins date back to the Cambridge School of Art (CSA), founded by William John Beamont, a Fellow of Trinity College at the Univer ...

. Like his brother, he contributed to '' Punch'' magazine. While Charles Edward Brock painted in oils and was elected a member of the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it ...

, H. M. Brock worked in advertising as well as in book illustration. For example, he illustrated

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' ''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by English author Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. The novel is a bildungsroman and depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after ''Dav ...

'', and produced four colour plates for a 1935 edition of ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

''. In addition, Brock was one of two artists (the other being Joseph Simpson) who contributed illustrations to

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

's 1911

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

story, "

The Adventure of the Red Circle "The Adventure of the Red Circle" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is included in the anthology '' His Last Bow''. Plot Mrs. Warren, a landlady, comes to 221B Baker Street with some questions abou ...

".The Adventure of the Red Circle at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia.
/ref> H.M. Brock provided illustrations for Susan Coolidge's ''What Katy Did at Home and at School'' (Seely and Co., 1911). He illustrated several books for

T. N. Foulis T. N. Foulis was a British Publishing, publisher founded in Edinburgh in 1903. During its first ten years, the firm became well known for producing "highly original, beautifully illustrated books",

. Brock was a frequent exhibitor. Most of Brock's illustrations were for classic

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

and

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

fiction. He also did a great deal of work for the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The ...

for whom he produced posters and other advertising materials. During his artistic career, H. M. Brock regularly exhibited his drawings and watercolours at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

and the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. He became a full member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1907, and joined the newly formed

Society of Graphic Art The Society of Graphic Fine Art (known until 1988 as the Society of Graphic Art) is a British arts organisation dedicated to drawing in all of its forms, established in 1919. History The Society of Graphic Art was founded in 1919 by Frank Lewis ...

in 1921. From the 1930s on he worked in comics, drawing "The Mystery of Study 13" for ''

Sparkler A sparkler is a type of hand-held firework that burns slowly while emitting bright, colored sparks. It burns in high temperature (over 1000°C), so it can be very dangerous. Sparklers are particularly popular with children. In the United ...

'' (1937), "Breed of the Brudenells" for ''

Knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

'' (1949), and an adaptation of ''

Lorna Doone ''Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor'' is a novel by R. D. Blackmore, first published in three volumes in London in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particu ...

'' for ''

Princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

'' (1960). On 7 September 1912 at

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

Brock married his cousin, Doris Joan Pegram, the daughter of the sculptor

Henry Alfred Pegram Henry Alfred Pegram (27 July 1862 – 26 March 1937) was a British sculptor and exponent of the New Sculpture movement.Chamot, M.; Farr, D.; Butlin, M.: The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture'' London 1964. Life Pegram w ...

, brother of the illustrator Fred Pegram. H. M. Brock died in the Evelyn Nursing Home in

in July 1960 aged 85. In his will he left £7,961 13s. 5d. to his widow, Doris Joan Brock. The

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

has an H. M. Brock Collection, which is made up of some 2000 books in which Brock's work was published, many

periodical Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

volumes and parts, ephemera such as

cigarette card Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco industry, tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and nicotine marketing, advertise cigarette brands. Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible car ...

s, and pictures, including over 70 original drawings.The H. M. Brock Collection
at the

Gallery

File:H.M.Brock - Poster for Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer (1919).jpg, H. M. Brock's 1919 poster for ''

The Sorcerer ''The Sorcerer'' is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaboration. The plot of ''The Sorcerer'' is based on a Christmas stor ...

'' File:H._M._Brock_-_Gilbert_and_Sullivan_-_D'Oyly_Carte_Opera_Company_Ruddigore_revival_1921.jpg, Illustration of the ghost scene from ''

Ruddigore ''Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse'', originally called ''Ruddygore'', is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written tog ...

'' (1921)

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Brock's Children's IllustrationsList of books illustrated by Henry Matthew Brock
for the

story ''

'',

Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

, March – April 1911.
Brock's illustrations
for ''

Persuasion Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours. Persuasion is studied in many disciplines. Rhetoric studies modes of persuasi ...

'' by

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

Brock's illustrations from British Library Flickr account

''Essays of Leigh Hunt''
(1891) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brock, H. M. 1875 births 1960 deaths English landscape painters 19th-century British illustrators English children's book illustrators British fantasy artists Illustrators of fairy tales 20th-century British illustrators English comics artists Artists from Cambridge Alumni of Anglia Ruskin University 20th-century English painters English male painters Sibling artists 20th-century English male artists

Biography

Gallery

Notes

References

Further reading

External links