Mary Shepard
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Mary Eleanor Jessie Knox (née Shepard; 25 December 1909 – 4 September 2000), popularly known as Mary Shepard, 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 ...
of
children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...
. She is best known for the ''
Mary Poppins Mary Poppins may refer to: * Mary Poppins (character), a nanny with magical powers * Mary Poppins (franchise), based on the fictional nanny ** Mary Poppins (book series), ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fanta ...
'' stories written by P. L. Travers (1934 to 1988). She used her married name Mary Knox outside the publishing industry.


Life and career

Shepard was born and raised in
Wonersh Wonersh is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Waverley, Surrey, Waverley district of Surrey, England and Surrey Hills AONB, Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It contains three Conservation Areas and spans ...
, Surrey. Her father was
E. H. Shepard Ernest Howard Shepard (10 December 1879 – 24 March 1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known especially for illustrations of the Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters in ''The Wind in the Willow ...
, a famous illustrator of children's literature including ''
Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...
'' by
A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-th ...
in the 1920s and a 1931 edition of ''
The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and get ...
'' by
Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer. He is best remembered for the classic of children's literature ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1908). Born in Scotland, he spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in ...
. She was the illustrator for the U.S. publisher Lippincot's 1937 edition of ''
Pigeon Post Pigeon post is the use of homing pigeons to carry messages. Pigeons are effective as messengers due to their natural homing abilities. The pigeons are transported to a destination in cages, where they are attached with messages, then the pigeo ...
'' by
Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...
. Shepard graduated from the
Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
. Her father was initially approached to illustrate ''Mary Poppins'', but he was too busy at the time. Travers discovered Shepard, then 23, from her work on a Christmas card, and hired her instead. She continued to illustrate ''Mary Poppins'' books until 1982. Shepard's elder brother, Graham Shepard, was also an illustrator and cartoonist, who worked 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 ...
''. He served in the
RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two Volunteer Reserves (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve (United Kingdom), ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and was lost along with all but one crew member when their ship, HMS ''Polyanthus'', was sunk by the German submarine '' U-952'' in the mid-Atlantic on 21 September 1943. She married E. V. Knox, 28 years her senior, in 1937. He was editor of '' Punch'' and father of the writer
Penelope Fitzgerald Penelope Mary Fitzgerald (17 December 1916 – 28 April 2000) was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 ''The Times'' listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". ''The Ob ...
. He died in 1971. Shepard died at a care home in
Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...
on 4 September 2000, at the age of 90.


References


External links

* * (primarily under 'Shepard, Mary, 1909–' without '2000', previous page of browse report) {{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Mary 1909 births 2000 deaths British children's book illustrators British women children's book illustrators English illustrators Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art 20th-century English women artists Artists from Surrey