Fred Barnard's successor on the staff of Fun was John Gordon Thomson (1841-1911), who drew "big cuts" (as Punch termed its central cartoons) for Fun from 1870 to 1893, when he was succeeded by Wallis Mackay. Thomson was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, on 2 September 1841, and had moved to London by the time he was twenty to work as a civil servant. Thomson contributed to Punch in 1861, The Graphic in 1870, and moved to Fun the same year. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1878, illustrated books and magazines for Samuel Beeton and others. It’s presumed Thomson died sometime in 1911. — John Adcock, Yesterday’s Papers.
Biographical Material
Works
- 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
- Title-page for Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens (1908)
Illustrations for Dickens's Pictures from Italy (1880)
- The Malle Post [frontispiece]
- Playing at Mora
- The Church and the World
- An Italian Dream
- Artists' Models
- Priests and Monks
- Pictures from Italy
- A Sketch at the Carnival — Rome
Lieu.-Col. F. E. West's "A Cottage by the Sea" in The Graphic (24 July 1886)
- At the Seaside [uncaptioned headpiece], p. 89
- Mr. Landon, Ex-Cotton Spinner [uncaptioned vignette], p. 89
- Castor and Pollux, p. 89
Links to related material
- Towneley Green's A Sketch at the Carnival
- The Artist-illustrators of The Graphic (1890)
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. American Notes for General Circulation and Pictures from Italy. Illustrated by J. Gordon Thomson and A. B. Frost. London: Chapman and Hall, 1880.
“John Gordon Thomson.” Yesterday’s Papers. Web. 2 April 2016.
Thomson, John Gordon. "Engraved Title." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens; being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings, by Fred Barnard, Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz); J. Mahoney; Charles Green; A. B. Frost; Gordon Thomson; J. McL. Ralston; H. French; E. G. Dalziel; F. A. Fraser, and Sir Luke Fildes; printed from the original woodblocks engraved for "The Household Edition." London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.
West, F. E. "A Cottage by the Sea." Illustrated by Gordon Thomson. The Graphic, Vol. XXXIV, 24 July 1886: pp. 89-90.
Created 6 March 2019 Last modified 9 April 2025