Hilda Gertrude Cowham (29 July 1873 – 28 September 1964) was an English

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 ...

, famous for her work on children's books and ceramic nurseryware.

Biography

Hilda Cowham was born at the Wesleyan Training College on

Horseferry Road Horseferry Road is a street in the City of Westminster in central London running between Millbank and Greycoat Place and designated part of the B323 road, along with Greycoat Place, Artillery Row and Buckingham Gate. Until 2011, it was the ...

in Westminster on 29 July 1873. She was a student at Wimbledon School of Art (where she studied modelling with Alfred Drury), Lambeth School of Art, and the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

. She was one of the first women illustrators to publish in ''Punch''. Her work was also published in ''

The Sketch ''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News, Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine wit ...

'', '' The Graphic'' and other magazines and periodicals. She illustrated children's books, such as ''Fiddlesticks'' (1900), ''Peter Pickle and his dog Fido'' (1906), ''Curly Heads and Long Legs'' (1914), and ''Blacklegs and Others'' (1911). One of her characters, a "bush haired, black stockinged imp with big sash bow and infinitesimal petticoats", became famous as the "Cowham child" and was widely imitated. In the 1930s Cowham designed a number of posters for

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

. In the period 1924 to 1935, she and her friend Mabel Lucie Attwell were employed by Shelley Potteries Ltd to provide illustrations for baby's plate and nurseryware.Hilda Cowham brief biography from the London Transport Museum
/ref> Cowham was married to Edgar Lander, also an artist;"Art and Artists"
''Otago Witness'', 3 February 1904 they had one son."Baby Wit"
''Marlborough Express'', 15 September 1913 She died in Shalford, Surrey on 28 September 1964, and was cremated.

References

1873 births 1964 deaths 19th-century English women artists 20th-century English women artists Place of birth missing Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the University of the Arts London English illustrators {{UK-illustrator-stub