John Proctor (26 May 1836 – 10 August 1914) was a British artist, cartoonist and illustrator, well known in his day for political cartoons in magazines such as ''Judy'' and ''Moonshine'', rivals to '' Punch''. He also illustrated many books and was one of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's choices to illustrate ''

Alice Through the Looking-Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' is a novel published in December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, University of Oxford. I ...

'' instead of

John Tenniel John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914) was an English illustrator, graphic humourist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, he was knight bachelor ...

Personal life

John Proctor was born 26 May 1836 in St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, he was the son of Adam Proctor (1797–1869) who was a plumber and his wife Eliza Proctor (1809–1897). He married Harriet Johanna McCallum (1836–1920) on 25 July 1861 in

Town Yetholm Town Yetholm ('town yet-ham') is a small village in the Scottish Borders in the valley of the Bowmont Water opposite Kirk Yetholm. The town colours are green and yellow. The centre of the small village is made up of the village green surro ...

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh () is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. T ...

, Scotland. They had nine children including Adam Edwin Proctor (1865–1913), a watercolour artist. They spent most of their married life in London, retiring to Little London, near

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, by 1911. He died at 'Heathend', Little London, on 10 August 1914 and is buried in

Nunhead Cemetery Nunhead Cemetery is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London, England. It is perhaps the least famous and celebrated of them. The cemetery is located in Nunhead in the London Borough of Southwark and was originally known as All Saint ...

, London.

Career

Proctor was apprenticed to William Banks 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 ...

for six years to master steel and copper engraving before moving to London around 1859. In his words, he was “… equipped with a limited art education but a fair share of ambition in my head and a book of character sketches of Lammas Fair in my wallet. The reason for my invasion was to get into black and white business straightaway”. In the 1861 UK Census, he is listed as an 'artist on wood'. His career began as a graphic journalist for the ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'' and was a special artist in

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in 1874 covering the royal wedding of Prince Alfred and

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (; – 22 October 1920) was the sixth child and only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine; she was Duchess of Edinburgh and later Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and G ...

. He became the sole resident artist for Cassell, Petter and Galpin from 1861 to 1867 and contributed regularly to '' Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper'' and other magazines as well as illustrations for books such as ''Bright Thoughts for the Little Ones'' (1866). With regular work assured at Cassell’s, Proctor was able to contribute to other publications such as '' George Stiff's,

The London Journal ''The London Journal; and Weekly Record of Literature, Science and Art'' (published from 1845 to 1928) was a British penny fiction weekly, one of the best-selling magazines of the nineteenth century. It was established by George Stiff, publish ...

'' and the ''Seven Days Journal'' (later ''The London Reader''). In the 1860s along with

Charles Gibbon Charles Gibbon (1843–1890) was a British novelist specialising in popular romances.''XIX Century Fiction'', Part I, A–K (Jarndyce, Bloomsbury, 2019). Life Gibbon was born in the Isle of Man, and moved with his parents to Glasgow at an early ...

and a 'Mr Rankin' he purchased the weekly paper ''Empire'' but despite their enthusiasm it proved a failure. From 1867 to 1868 Proctor drew the two-page centrefold cartoons in '' Judy; or, the London Serio-comic Journal''. In 1868 he moved on to illustrate the centre pages of the weekly periodical ''Moonshine'' which he did until 1877. Proctor contributed illustrations for the jingoistic paper ''Sons of Britannia'' a precursor to the ''

Boy's Own Paper ''The Boy's Own Paper'' was a British story paper aimed at young and 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 encourage you ...

''. Some of Proctor's best work was done for James Henderson's periodicals such as ''

Young Folks "Young Folks" is the first single from Swedish band Peter Bjorn and John's third album, ''Writer's Block'' (2006). The single features Victoria Bergsman as a guest vocalist. The song received generally positive reviews from critics and performe ...

'', ''

Funny Folks ''Funny Folks'' was a British periodical published between 1874 and 1894. It was published in London by Scottish newspaper proprietor James Henderson. It has been called "the first English 'comic' paper", and "the model for all later British com ...

'' which is considered to be one of the first British

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

and ''

Fun Fun is defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement; boisterous joviality or merrymaking; entertainment". Etymology and usage The word ''fun'' is associated with sports, entertaining medi ...

''. He was also a regular contributor to ''Cassell’s Saturday Journal'', ''Illustrated Bits'', ''Sketch'', and ''Will O’ the Wisp''. Among his most significant contributions to ''Young Folks'' in the 1870s were his illustrations under the pseudonym of 'Puck' for works by Roland Quiz (Richard Quittenton) and Walter Villiers (pen name of penny dreadful author Walter Viles). Quiz's ''Giant-land, the Wonderful Adventures of Tim Pippin'', illustrated by Proctor, were later published in book form and was a significant late nineteenth century and remained in print until the 1940s. In 1868

approached Proctor to illustrate ''

Through the Looking-Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' is a novel published in December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, University of Oxford. I ...

'', as

was initially unavailable. Proctor responded saying he was too busy and ultimately Tenniel decided to do the illustrations.Proctor told his family the reason, in addition to his schedule, for his rejection of the project was Carroll’s reputation of being very difficult to work with. Proctor was in high demand during the late nineteenth century, illustrating many books and at one point producing two to three major cartoons a week for periodicals. However he did find time to enjoy himself and was an enthusiastic member of the Whitefriars Club and the

Savage Club The Savage Club, founded in 1857, is a gentlemen's club in London, named after the poet, Richard Savage. The club's logo is of an indigenous North American in a feathered headdress. Members are drawn from the fields of art, drama, law, literat ...

, mixing with some of the most prominent artists, actors and other eminent members of Victorian society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor, John 1836 deaths 1914 deaths Artists from Edinburgh Burials at Nunhead Cemetery Scottish editorial cartoonists Scottish children's book illustrators Artists from London 19th-century Scottish artists