Margaret Emily Noel Fortnum (23 December 1919 – 28 March 2016) was an English illustrator, best known for illustrating the

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

series ''

Paddington Bear Paddington Bear (though his name is just Paddington; the "Bear" simply serves to confirm his species; and also known as Paddington Brown for some sources) is a fictional character in British children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October ...

''.

Biography

Fortnum was born in England on 23 December 1919 at Harrow,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. She briefly attended Tunbridge Wells School of Art in 1939, before enlisting in the

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the World War II, Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existe ...

during World War II. While in the military she sustained serious injuries when she was run over by a truck, requiring a prolonged period of recovery. After her recovery from injury she attended the

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a art school, school of fine arts, fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School ...

in London. She worked as an art teacher, painter, and textile designer before becoming a full-time book illustrator. As of 2015 she had illustrated nearly eighty books.
32windsorgardens, 08 March 2020 Fortnum's first commission was for ''Dorcas the Wooden Doll'' by Mary Fielding Moore, published in 1944. Fortnum's best-known works are her illustrations of

Michael Bond Thomas Michael Bond (13 January 1926 – 27 June 2017) was an English author. He is best known for a series of children's books featuring the character of Paddington Bear. More than 35 million books in the series have been sold worldwide, ...

's character

.Silvey, Anita, ed., ''The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators'', Houghton Mifflin, 2002, p. 51. In 1958 she illustrated Paddington's debut the first edition of ''A Bear Called Paddington''Peggy Fortnum
Paddington.com, retrieved 13 October 2015 and her original illustrations were used by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

in its 1998 reissue of ''A Bear Called Paddington'', which celebrated the character's 40th anniversary. Although her pen-and-ink drawings of Paddington were done in black and white, some of them have been coloured by other artists, including her step-granddaughter Caroline Nuttall-Smith. One of her Paddington illustrations was used by the

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

in 2006 for one in a series of first class stamps that celebrated animals from children's literature.

Personal life

Fortnum married artist and sculptor Ralph Nuttall-Smith in 1958. He died in 1988. Fortnum resided in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England, and died in March 2016 at the age of 96. She suffered from

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

. She was survived by her two nephews, the film historian

Kevin Brownlow Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...

and the sculptor John Fortnum.

References

External links

* * 1919 births 2016 deaths English children's book illustrators People from Harrow, London English women children's book illustrators Paddington Bear {{UK-illustrator-stub