Harry
Furniss, the son of an English engineer, was born in Wexford, Ireland,
in 1854. Furniss worked as an artist in Ireland but in 1876 he moved
to England and found work with the Illustrated
London News. Over the next eight years he developed a reputation
as an outstanding draughtsman.
In 1880 Francis
Burnand, the editor
of Punch, invited Furniss to contribute
to the magazine. Several of his cartoons were published and in 1884
he became a member of the staff at Punch.
For the next ten years he illustrated the Essence
of Parliament.
He also supplied articles, jokes, illustrations and dramatic criticisms
for other sections of the magazine.
Harry
Furniss always drew William Gladstone
with a large collar, and although he never wore collars like this,
the public become convinced that he did. Harry Furniss was a staunch
Unionist and he was especially harsh on Irish
Nationalists. One MP, Swift MacNeill, who was portrayed as a gorilla,
was so angry with that he physically assaulted Furniss. Another group
of MPs threatened him with a beating unless he ended his campaign
against them.
Harry Furniss work became extremely popular with the British public
and this enabled him to tour the country giving lectures on subjects
such as The Frightfulness of Humour
and Humours of Parliament. Furniss
also illustrated a great number of books including those by Lewis
Carroll, Charles Dickens and William
Makepeace Thackeray.
Harry Furniss left Punch
in 1894 after a discovered that the magazine had sold the copyright
of one of his drawings to Pears Soap for advertising. Furniss
had for a long time wanted his own business and that year he started
his own cartoon magazine, Like Joka.
The magazine was not a financial success and
he moved to the USA where he worked in the film industry with Thomas
Edison. In 1914 Furniss helped pioneer the animated cartoon film.
Harry Furniss died in 1925.
William
Gladstone by Harry Furniss, Punch
(1893)
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