Edward Linley Sambourne

Edward Linley Sambourne (4 January 1844–3 August 1910) was a cartoonist for Punch. He was born in Pentonville, London, the son of Edward Moot Sambourne. His middle name of Linley comes from his mother's maiden name, Frances Linley.

At the age of sixteen, he attended the school of art in South Kensington for a short time, but then left and began working for John Penn & Sons, an engineering firm in Greenwich. Sambourne worked here as an engineering draughtsman, but bored with the work, he spent most of his time making sketches. A fellow worker, Alfred Reed, finding one of the sketches particularly amusing, showed the sketch to his father, German Reed, a friend of the then Punch editor, Mark Lemon in early 1867. Lemon was sufficiently impressed by the sketch that he published a drawing by Sambourne in the 27 April 1867 issue, of John Bright tilting at a quintain under the title of "Pros and Cons". Sambourne was a contributor to Punch for the next four decades. In 1871 he became the regular illustrator for the "Essence of Parliament" feature. By 1878 he was named the "cartoon junior", second only to John Tenniel.

Besides his work for Punch, he occasionally produced work for other magazines, and also produced illustrations for an 1885 edition of Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies.

In 1901, he became the chief cartoonist for Punch, taking over after John Tenniel's retirement. After his death his family preserved his Holland Park home largely as it has been in his lifetime and it is now open to the public as the Linley Sambourne House.

Examples of his work

Examples from his series of caricatures in Punch 1881-2, "Punch's Fancy Portraits":

More of Sambourne's caricatures from this series can be seen in the articles for William Harrison Ainsworth, Emma Albani, Matthew Arnold, Lord Charles Beresford, William Black, George Granville Bradley, Robert Browning, Hugh Childers, Lord Randolph Churchill, Henry Drummond Wolff, Henry Fawcett, James Anthony Froude, George Joachim Goschen, Charles Gounod, John Holker, Henry Labouchère, Henry Parry Liddon, John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, Oscar Wilde, Ouida, James Payn, George Augustus Henry Sala, Eyre Massey Shaw, Arthur Sullivan, William James Erasmus Wilson, and Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley

See also: Phylloxera, Cecil Rhodes.

Trivia

Sambourne's descendants include grandson Oliver Messel (an acclaimed set designer and architect), great-grandson the Earl of Snowdon (the photographer and documentary filmmaker), and great-great-grandson Viscount Linley (the furniture designer and chairman of Christie's auction house).

See also

• Linley Sambourne House

External links

• Portrait of Linley Sambourne by Harry Furniss
• Linley Sambourne House