Tom Browne (1870 – 1910) was an extremely popular English strip cartoonist, painter and illustrator of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods.
Browne started earning a wage as a milliner's errand boy in 1882. From there he was apprenticed to a lithographic printer and eked out a living with freelance cartoons for London comic papers. He received 30 shillings for his first strip, published by the magazine “Scraps,” and called "He Knew How To Do It".
Comic Cuts, a British comic book was founded by Alfred Harmsworth in 1890. Cheaply printed, it proved to be the ideal medium for Browne's bold drawing style. Browne's comic strips soon became so popular that he moved to London and into a studio in Wollaton House at Westcombe Park, London. Here he turned out six full-page strips a week, but also managed to produce illustrations for several British magazines. His cartoons appeared in the magazines Punch, The Tatler and other highly rated periodicals of the day. The logo of Johnnie Walker whiskey, the strutting, monocled character, was created by Browne in 1908.
Browne was a founding member of the London Sketch Club, was publicly acclaimed and was made a “Royal Illustrator.” His cycling trips took him all over the world, while illustrations of these exploits appeared in the newspapers. Returning to Nottingham, he started a colour printing firm and joined the Territorial Army.
He also created the comic strip Weary Willie and Tired Tim, inspired by Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, which appeared on the front page of Illustrated Chips from 1896 to 1953. Browne played a major part in the evolution of the British comic style, influencing Bruce Bairnsfather, Didley Watkins and Leo Baxendale. His strip 'Airy Alf and Bouncing Billy' first appeared in The Big Budget around 1900, and was later continued by Ralph Hodgson aka "Yorick". His comic, Dan Leno, portrayed the Victorian English music hall comedian and appeared in Dan Leno's Comic Journal in 1898. Echoes of his impudent urchins can still be seen in The Beano and The Dandy comics today.
More of his characters were 'Little Willy and Tiny Tim', 'Mr. Stankey Deadstone and Company', 'The Rajah' and 'Don Quixote de Tintogs'. Browne died after surgery for cancer at the age of 39. He was buried with military honours at Shooter’s Hill.
For more information on Browne see part 1.
For earlier works see parts 1 - 8 also.
For earlier works see parts 1 - 8 also.
This is part 9 of 9 parts on the works of Tom Browne:
The Caudles:
Weekly Telegraph series:
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| The outside edge |
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| The Amateur Photographer "How nicely you are developing" |
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| The Arcadians |
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| The Arcadians |
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| The Arcadians |
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| The Arcadians |
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| The Arcadians |
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| The early "Trike" |
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| The Master & Mistress return home unexpectedly from their holidays. |
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| The Merry Motor |
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| The Prima Donna. |
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| The rush for the homeward boat. |
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| The true story of The Hare and The Tortoise. Tortoise. I'll read mine when I get home (he got home first) |
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| The worst woman in London. |
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| This Christmas prove full of joy for you and may you never be stumped. "I've goy 'arf a Crown" "And I've got three bob" "Lets buy a pair o' skates" |
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| Tramps. |
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| Two heads are better than one. |
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| Watched. |
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| Well-known Plays Illustrated. Alone in London. |
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| When Father Carves the Goose |
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| When Father does a bit of gardening |
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| When Father hangs the pictures. |
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| When Father laid the carpet. |
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| When father sings. |
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| When father snores. |
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| When mother baths the kids. |
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| When mother does Spring Cleaning |
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| When mother goes shopping |
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| When mother stops the bus. |
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| When mother travels. |
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| When mother? sacks the cook |
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| Will ye no' come back again |
The Caudles:
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| Mr Caudle has been called from his bed to bail out a friend from the watch-house. |
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| Mr Caudle looks under the bed for burglars. |
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| Mr Caudle unable to stand Mrs Caudle's tongue and longer, goes and sleeps with the children. |
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| Mrs Caudle catches cold. |
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| Mrs Caudle in tears. |
Weekly Telegraph series:
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| "A choice bit" |
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| "Don't get excited, I've nearly finished." |
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| "Enthralled." |
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| A great attraction |
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| Happy under these circumstances |
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| The right paper but the wrong sausage |