{"title":"Brock, Richard H.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRichard Henry Brock (1871-1943)\u003c\/strong\u003e is the “forgotten” Brock brother. Two of his siblings, C.E. Brock and H.M. Brock, were amongst the best-known and most talented illustrators of their era, both with a similar but instantly recognisable style. R.H. Brock was generally regarded as the least talented of the three, and he was certainly nowhere near as prolific. Yet he was a competent and versatile artist, equally at home painting in oils and watercolours as he was illustrating in black and white and colour. Unfortunately, he has been very much ignored by all the major commentators.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe brothers’ father was Edmund Brock, born in Shepreth, Cambridgeshire, in 1840. His father, Jeremiah, a painter, took the family to Islington, London, where, in his late teens, Edmund became a bookmaker. However, by the mid-1860s he was a member of the Early English Text Society, and he was publishing his own texts, for example translations from the medieval English of some of Chaucer’s works, and a translation of Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. He subsequently spent 40 years working for the Cambridge University Press as a reader specialising in medieval and oriental languages. He married Mary Ann Louise Pegram (born in London in 1836) at Regent’s Park Chapel, Marylebone, on 23 February 1867, moving to Leighton Road, Kentish Town, where their first child, Alice Emma, was born in 1868. They then moved to Hampden Road, Holloway, where C.E. Brock, christened Charles Edmund Brock, was born on 5 February 1870. They then moved to Cornwall Terrace, Friern Barnet, where R.H. (Richard Henry) was born on 21 July 1871, before moving to Cambridge, firstly to Coronation Street, where a third son was born, and then to 4 Perowne Street, where a further three children, including H.M. (Henry Matthew), were born.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRichard, along with his brothers, was educated at St. Barnabas Church of England School and then at the Higher Grade School for Boys in Paradise Street, Cambridge. At the time of the 1891 census, he was living with his parents and siblings at 3 Barrie Villas, Abbey Road, and described as a “Pupil Teacher in Art School.” This was the Cambridge School of Art, where he had been studying since 1888. He remained there until at least 1895 where he was a regular prize-winner, and for some years was studying alongside his two brothers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis career as an illustrator seems to have begun in 1897, when he contributed to The Infants’ Magazine and The Family Friend, both published by S.W. Partridge \u0026amp; Co. However, this appears to have been a false start, as he spent the following 20 years or so concentrating on painting. He specialised in rural scenes, in particular farming, horses, hunting and other country pursuits. He exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1901, 1903, 1906, 1911, 1912 and 1913, and also occasionally elsewhere, such as Derby in 1905 and Bradford in 1907. He was also a keen musician, playing the violin and cello with the Cambridge Orchestral Society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1916, he began contributing to The Tatler and Punch (he had four drawings published in Punch in 1916 and 1917), and he later contributed to Chums, Printer’s Pie, Outward Bound, The Boy’s Own Paper, The Boys Magazine, Chatterbox, The Wide World Magazine, The Happy Mag, The Detective Magazine, The Red Magazine, The Scout and The Golden Mag. However, he was not a regular contributor to any of these periodicals, although he did contribute sporadically to The Boy’s Own Paper between 1921 and 1932. Between 1918 and 1920, he also illustrated stories published in The Sheffield Weekly Telegraph.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn 25 August 1917, at the Independent Chapel, Hanworth Road, Hounslow, he married Mary Cooke, a schoolmistress, born on 27 November 1882, the daughter of Charles Henry Cooke, a jeweller. Richard continued living in the family home in Madingley Road until late 1938.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile his brothers Charles and Henry had begun illustrating books in the 1890s, Richard appears to have only begun to do this in 1920, when he illustrated Three Girls on a Ranch, written by Bessie Marchant and published by Blackie \u0026amp; Sons. He went on to illustrate a further 25 or so books for Blackie, and he also worked occasionally for other publishers such as Thomas Nelson \u0026amp; Sons, the Oxford University Press, the Sheldon Press, the Religious Tract Society (his books appeared under the imprint of The “Boy’s Own Paper” Office) and Eyre \u0026amp; Spottiswoode. Like his brothers, he was commissioned to illustrate new editions of “classic” novels, such as The Three Musketeers, Lorna Doone, The Pilgrim’s Progress, The Cloister and the Hearth, and Mrs Henry Wood’s The Channings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMany of the books he illustrated were girls’ stories, by authors such as Margaret Batchelor, Ethel Talbot, E.E. Cowper, Alice Massie, Dorita Fairlie Bruce, Katherine Oldmeadow, Nancy M. Hayes, Brenda Girvin, Violet Methley and Jessie Leckie Herbertson. Amongst the boys’ writers whose books he illustrated were Alfred Judd, Herbert Strang, R.A.H. Goodyear, Stanton Hope and George Manville Fenn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn total, more than 80 books containing his illustrations have been recorded, although there are almost certainly several more. This does not include the numerous children’s annuals and similar large-format books to which he contributed, which included The Big Book of School Stories for Boys, The Boys’ Book of School Stories, Blackie’s Boys’ Annual, Blackie’s Children’s Annual, Schoolboy Stories Splendid Stories for Girls, The Girls’ Budget, The Boys’ Budget, The Big Budget for Boys, The Grand Adventure Book for Boys, The Golden Budget for Girls, The Golden Budget for Boys, The Blue Line School Stories for Girls, Delightful Stories for Girls, The Jolly Book, Nelson’s Jolly Book for Boys, Nelson’s Budget for Girls, Storyland for Girls, The Empire Annual for Girls, Hulton’s Girls’ Stories, Jolly Days for Girls, The Schoolgirls’ Bumper Book and A Story Book for Me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was also responsible for the covers for many of George Newnes’s Black Bess Library and Dick Turpin Library between 1921 and 1930, along with C.P. Shilton.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eR.H. Brock’s periodical work appears to have come to an end in 1932, although he continued illustrating books until around 1940. However, he appears to have more or less abandoned his career as an artist before this - by 1939 he and his wife were running a boarding house at 14 Priory Avenue, Hastings. They appear to have stopped advertising the boarding house after June 1940, and they subsequently moved to 32 Bulstrode Road, Hounslow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRichard Henry Brock died of heart disease at Bulstrode Road on 11 June 1943, apparently without leaving a will. \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"brock-richard-h-1871-1943-water-over-mysterious-figure-1932","title":"Brock, Richard H. (1871-1943) - Water over mysterious figure 1932","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis image by British illustrator and Brock brother Richard H. Brock, appeared in Cuddle-Down Stories from 1932.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis download consists of 1 image in JPEG format that is 600dpi and 3654 pixels wide by 4950 pixels tall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe picture is out of copyright and in the public domain, so you are free to use it in whatever way you'd like, including commercial use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRead more about \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/publicdomainimagelibrary.com\/collections\/brock-richard-h\" title=\"Richard H. Brock\"\u003eRichard H. Brock\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Digital Download - 1 image","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61694857216330,"sku":null,"price":0.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0776\/7965\/7290\/files\/Brock_RichardH._1871-1943_-Cuddle-downStories1932-Waterovermysteriousfigure_main.jpg?v=1777023969"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0776\/7965\/7290\/collections\/Brock_Richard_H._1871-1943-5387162.jpg?v=1777023875","url":"https:\/\/publicdomainimagelibrary.com\/collections\/brock-richard-h.oembed","provider":"Public Domain Image Library","version":"1.0","type":"link"}