Harry Neilson: From Engineer to Children’s Book Illustrator
Harry Neilson (1861-1941) started his adult life as an engineer and electrician, working for a Liverpool ship building company. He also spent more than a decade in India, where he not only became a trooper in the British Indian Army but also started illustrating books. His first book, The Adventures of Sam Pippins, Esq., with the Kilkenny Hunt, was published in 1889. In 1903, he moved back to England and continued his artistic work, illustrating at least 21 children’s books, many showing humanised animals. He also developed a keen interest in amateur horse keeping, which also features in some of his sketches.
Harry Neilson was born as Henry Bingham Neilson in Birkenhead on the Wirral in 1861 and died in West Kirby in 1941. He was mostly a comic book illustrator, specialising in children’s books, but he also designed some posters and around 50 very charming humorous postcards. Like Harry Rountree or Benjamin Rabier in France, he often depicted animals dressed as people.
Patriotic Dogs
From a set of six postcards published by E.W. Savory in Bristol, “Clifton” Series No. 552.
owls
From a set of six postcards published by E.W. Savory in their “Clifton” Series, No. 522.
other birds
From a set of six published by E.W. Savory, No. 2264.
Cats
A set of six cards with undivided backs published in the “Premier” Series in 1903.
motoring animals
From a set of six cards showing various different animals enjoying a ride in a motor car. Issued by an unidentified publisher in 1908.
irish pigs
From a set of six cards published by Dennis in their “Dainty” Series around 1907.
old style & new style
A set of six cards published in 1903 by an unidentified publisher, showing how times and fashions have changed.
ceylon
These two very unusual cards appear to have been created in Ceylon, from where they were sent to Bedford in England in 1903. These may well be Harry Neilson’s earliest postcards.
