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Books
Llangollen artist - the life, work and postcards
of Ernest Burrows (Christopher
Burrows) is published by Bridge Books,
Wrexham.
The picture postcard boom of the early
20th century gave an opportunity for
artists and photographers all over the
world to express and showcase their
skills, sometimes on a national stage,
more often quite locally or regionally.
This 96-page beautifully-produced hardback
book with colourful dustjacket is the
author’s homage to his grandfather,
Ernest Burrows, whose comic observations
of Welsh life sold in huge quantities
to amused tourists in the first two
decades of the 20th century.
The book sets the scene
with a critique of Llangollen
(“not a pretty town” -
though it attracted plenty of
tourists a century ago, keen
to explore its surrounding
countryside). Ernest’s father
William, who hailed from
Manchester, met his future
wife Mary Jane in Llangollen,
one of the places
where his travels as a salesman
took him. The couple
lived in Manchester - where
Ernest was born - until Wiliam’s
ill-health persuaded
the family, by then five in
number, to settle in Llangollen
with Mary’s father.
William’s early death left
his wife looking after the
three children and making
ends meet by turning their
house into a bed-and-break-
Clubscene extra
Flo McCarthy, chairman of
the SOUTH DOWNS club,
took the audience on a trip
around his homeland of Ireland.
He began with a range
of mainly pre-1910 urban
scenes, including coloured
cards. For inter-war rural
views, he turned to cards
published by Judges of
Hastings, their photographs
giving atmospheric views.
Flo concluded with a range
of cards from William
Lawrence, who opened a
photographic studio in
Dublin in 1865 and over the
years covered the length
and breadth of Ireland.
Many of his 40,000 glass
plates were subsequently
turned into postcards.
Torbay Postcard Club
have just released the 100th
edition of their newsletter.
The full-page edition features
an article on the River
Dart and pictorial shorts on
the artists Evelyn Stuart
Hardy and Albert Carnell,
Hands Across The Sea and
Romance.
fast establishment.
Like so
many Edwardian
artists
whose work
appeared on
postcards, Ernest’s artistic
and inventive talents blossomed
early, and he began
painting postcard-size
comic sketches which he
sent off to various publishers
in the hope of a commission.
He was signed up
by Liverpool firm Thomas
Brothers, who subsequently
issued about 100 of his
designs in their ‘Everton’
series. Initially the comic
sketches had English captions,
but Ernest developed
the habit of adding Welsh
words onto the cards to
give them a more ‘authentic’
feel. The fact he had no
knowledge of the Welsh
language and relied on his
wife Melinda, whom he
married in 1904, for translations
sometimes led to
peculiar spellings on the
cards! Of course, Ernest’s
income came mainly from
illustration work he did for
books and from the sales of
watercolours he painted of
Llangollen and area scenes.
The postcards he left,
though, are a distinctive
and important legacy.
Christopher Burrows has
provided a fitting tribute,
and plenty of Ernest’s postcards
are pictured in the
book. Some - such as his
‘Mixed bathing’ and ‘Full up
at...’ have something of the
flavour of Scottish artist
Cynicus’s cartoons, and
Both side of Ernest Burrows’ classic
postcard ‘Travelling in Wales’, no. 230 in
the ‘Everton’ series
Burrows’ gently poking fun
at the natives of his adopted
country definitely mirrors
the style of the Tayportbased
artist/publisher.
* available at Llangollen Museum
for £12.99 or from Christopher
Burrows, Fernlea, Market
Street, Llangollen, Denbighshire
LL20 8PY at £15.99
inc. p/p.
chriseburrows@tiscali.co.uk
Bookshelf
A selection of recent titles:
British Postcards of The
First World War (Peter
Doyle) £5.99 (+ £1.25 UK
post)
Sussex Railway Stations
on old postcards (James
Young) £3.95 (+ 80p post)
Postcards from Utopia
(Andrew Roberts) £8.99 (+
£1.25 post)
Ask for a full list of available
postcard-related
books.
Reflections of a Bygone
Age, 15 Debdale Lane,
Keyworth, Nottingham
NG12 5HT
Below: two examples of
Frank Burridge’s distinctive
artwork on his ‘Dalkeith’
series of postcards. Some
of the railway ones are now
particularly sought-after.
Obituaries
Frank Burridge, who died on
May 30th at the age of 80,
was well-known in the postcard
trade. In the 1980s he
designed and published the
famous Dalkeith series.
These were in sets of six
and covered many aspects
of early railways, in particular
railway companies such
as Somerset and Dorset.
Many of the sets were his
own original paintings,
while others were taken
from old posters. He followed
up the 103 sets in this
series with Classic Posters,
which ran to 52 sets, and
then began a further series
titled Cards of Style. These
covered classic cars, various
sports and others. Later
Frank issued some unlimited
series. He was meticulous
in the production of his
cards and his researches
took him to many libraries
and archives, including York
Railway Museum, where he
was a regular visitor. His
enthusiasm for the job in
hand was reflected in the
accuracy of his work; every
detail of his subject mattered
and he built up a fine
reputation.
Frank also became
famous for the railway
museum he created in the
1970s, the Big Four Railway
Museum in Bournemouth.
This was bulging with railway
artefacts, not least
Frank’s collection of locomotive
nameplates. This
attracted collectors from far
and wide and was full of
treasures for the collector,
even football enthusiasts
who come to drool over the
nameplates of LNER locomotive
‘Manchester United’.
This led to Frank producing
a fine illustrated
book “Nameplates of the
Big Four”. In his later years
he was still producing railway
literature. He will be
long remembered - Garnet
Langton.
Ian Aspinall of Stevenage
has died. He and his wife
Patricia were frequent visitors
to Bloomsbury, York
and Bipex,
and had a
keen interest
in
Stevenage
postcards
and child
r e n ’ s
artists.
56 Picture Postcard Monthly July 2010