Howard Dudley (1820–1864) was an English author and wood-engraver.

Life

Born in 1820, Dudley was the only son of Quaker parents George and Sarah Dudley. He spent his early years in

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

but on the death of his father in 1827 the family moved to

Easebourne Easebourne () is a village, Anglican parish and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is half a mile (0.8 km) north of Midhurst, across the River Rother on the A272 and A286 roads. The parish includes the h ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, near to

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester District in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother (Western), River Rother, inland from the English Channel and north of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first reco ...

. Dudley married Jane Ellen Young on 1 December 1849 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, and returned to London three years later. Howard Dudley died childless of

consumption Consumption may refer to: * Eating *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically known as consumption * Consumer (food chain), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of n ...

on 4 July 1864.

Works

Dudley wrote the first illustrated history of

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

, ''The History and Antiquities of Horsham and its Vicinities'' (1836). He also produced the

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

s and

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s that were used as the illustrations, and then went on to print the book himself. He was only 15 at the time. This was Dudley’s second book; the first being a wider ranging history of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

entitled ''Juvenile Researches'' of which he produced two editions in 1835 and 1836. The two texts are rare today. Facsimile copies have been reproduced on two occasions and now the full text and images of the Horsham book are available digitally. The first facsimile was published by Cecil Cramp in 1973, and its successor in 2002 was published by Dick Richardson. The Horsham book is dedicated to the Right Hon George O’Brien Wyndam, Earl of Egremont and Baron Cockermouth. As a wood-engraver Dudley was self-taught, but went on to have a career in the art, producing work for various publishers and periodicals until shortly before his death.

Reputation

Dick Richardson’s book, upon which the above text draws, quotes Dudley’s obituary in the '' Gentlemen’s Magazine'': "Dudley was a mild and amiable man, affectionate in his domestic relations, and his gentlemanly manners, bright ideas and pungent remarks, and a very great choice of words, made him a delightful companion. He died with an earnest profession of his belief in Jesus Christ."

References

* Howard Dudley. ''The History and Antiquities of Horsham''. Country Books; Facsimile Ed edition (21 October 2002). . * Jeremy Knight. ''Horsham's History: 1790–1880'' v. 2 (Paperback)

External links

* *
The History and Antiquities of Horsham
transcribed with illustrations and reproduced in full on Hidden Horsham
The History and Antiquities of Horsham
pdf reproduction of original book {{DEFAULTSORT:Dudley, Howard 1820 births 1864 deaths Historians of the British Isles 19th-century British historians British wood engravers People from Easebourne