oseph Clayton Clarke, who is best known by his pseudonym "Kyd," was born in 1857 in Onchan on the Isle of Man. He was versatile an artist who attempted all sorts of subjects, from brilliant editorial cartoons with political satire to collections of watercolours of Dickens's quirky character In personal appearance, the artist affected the style of Dickens's Micawber, including spats and gloves. However, as rising income permitted him to move his growing family out of the metropolis in 1892, he moved not to "Dickens-land" (Rochester, Kent), but to the charming West Sussex town of Chichester. — Philip V. Allingham
Works
- 92 portraits of characters from the novels of Charles Dickens
- Political cartoons on the Disraeli-Gladstone rivalry from Fun
- Political cartoons on the Gladstone & the Irish question from Fun
- Editorial cartoons about railways, working conditions, religion, and other subjects in Fun
Bibliography
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
Brigden, C. A. T. The Characters from Charles Dickens as depicted by Kyd. Rochester, Kent: John Hallewell, 1978.
The Characters of Charles Dickens Pourtrayed in a Series of Original Water Colour Sketches by “Kyd.” London, Paris, and New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1898[?].
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr. Character Sketches from Dickens. Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, 1888.
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.
Kyd. Characters from Dickens. Nottingham: John Player & Sons, 1910.
Created 25 March 2016
Last updated 15 September 2026