[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Illustration —> Charles Dickens —> John McLaren Ralston —> Next]
Sir Edward Howard
John McLaren Ralston
Engraver: E. Dalziel
1878
Wood engraving
13.8 cm high by 10.6 cm wide (5 7/16 by 4 ⅛ inches)
Dickens's A Child's History of England, Chapter XXVII, 113.
[Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [See below for commentary.]
[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
The Pope, so indefatigable in getting the world into trouble, had mixed himself up in a war on the continent of Europe, occasioned by the reigning Princes of little quarrelling states in Italy having at various times married into other Royal families, and so led to their claiming a share in those petty Governments. The King, who discovered that he was very fond of the Pope, sent a herald to the King of France, to say that he must not make war upon that holy personage, because he was the father of all Christians. As the French King did not mind this relationship in the least, and also refused to admit a claim King Henry made to certain lands in France, war was declared between the two countries. Not to perplex this story with an account of the tricks and designs of all the sovereigns who were engaged in it, it is enough to say that England made a blundering alliance with Spain, and got stupidly taken in by that country; which made its own terms with France when it could and left England in the lurch. Sir Edward Howard, a bold admiral, son of the Earl of Surrey, distinguished himself by his bravery against the French in this business; but, unfortunately, he was more brave than wise, for, skimming into the French harbour of Brest with only a few row-boats, he attempted (in revenge for the defeat and death of Sir Thomas Knyvett, another bold English admiral) to take some strong French ships, well defended with batteries of canon. The upshot was, that he was left on board of one of them (in consequence of its shooting away from his own boat), with not more than about a dozen men, and was thrown into the sea and drowned: though not until he had taken from his breast his gold chain and gold whistle, which were the signs of his office, and had cast them into the sea to prevent their being made a boast of by the enemy. After this defeat — which was a great one, for Sir Edward Howard was a man of valour and fame — the King took it into his head to invade France in person; first executing that dangerous Earl of Suffolk whom his father had left in the Tower, and appointing Queen Catherine to the charge of his kingdom in his absence. [Chapter XXVII — "England under Henry the Eighth, Called Bluff King Hal and Burly King Harry," 112]
McLaren Ralston has aimed at exciting the interests and nationalistic passions of English schoolboys by depicting a battle on the deck of a French warship. As Dickens, however, describes the circumstances of the military action, Howard's rash behaviour proves anything but rational, in that his headstrong pride and irrational desire for vengeance lead directly to his death in the French harbour at Brest. Elected to the Order of the Garter but never installed, Howard died heroically but pointlessly, and his drowning as a result of being thrown overboard in full armour deprived the English of their new High Admiral.
Sir Edward Howard (1476/1477–25 April 1513) cuts a dashing and heroic figure here, although he ill-advisedly wears no helmet as he swings his broadsword at two French knights in full armour, including helmets. Dickens has chosen to describe his subsequent death as pointless and foolish, so that Ralston's illustration seems to work at cross purposes with the original text. Thirty-seven-year-old Howard had proven himself a competent naval officer, and became the first of the Howards to win military fame. But Dickens sees the pursuit of honour detached from any greater purpose as foolhardy. Howard participated in his first naval battle while in his teens, and his command during the Battle of Saint-Mathieu may have marked the first sea battle in which ships fought with cannons deployed through ports. Dickens focuses not on his final heroic action, but instead on Howard's death, when he unwisely led an assault on galleys in the French fleet near Brest.
Avery, Gillian, ed. Charles Dickens: "A Holiday Romance" and Other Writings for Children with All the Original Illustrations. Everyman edition. London: J. M. Dent, 1995.
Dickens, Charles. A Child's History of England". Illustrated by John McLaren Ralston. Household Edition. London: Chapman & Hal1, 1878. XVIII.
_______. A Child's History of England in Works. Centenary Edition. 36 vols. London: Chapman and Hall; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910-12.
Created 7 March 2021