Edward Linley Sambourne

Edward Linley Sambourne (4 January 1844 – 3 August 1910) was an English cartoonist and illustrator most famous for being a draughtsman for the satirical magazine Punch for more than forty years and rising to the position of ‘First Cartoonist’ in his final decade.

Edward Linley Sambourne was born in the family home at 15 Lloyd Square in Pentonville, London 4 January 1844, he was the only surviving child of Edward Mott Sambourne a furrier merchant in the City of London. His mother Frances Linley was the daughter of Peter Linley, who followed into the family business of scythe manufacture near Sheffield.

Linley was educated at various schools throughout England. Aged 10 or 11 he enrolled as a pupil in the City of London School but by 1857 he was at a school in Sheffield. From late 1857 to 1860 he had again enrolled in a new school, the Chester Training College where he was encouraged to pursue his talent for drawing. In 1860 aged 16, Linley enrolled in the South Kensington School of Art but only stayed a couple of months.

In 1861 Sambourne was apprenticed to John Penn & Son, marine engineers of Greenwich. Initially he worked under the founder’s son, John Penn Jr but was moved to the drawing office when his employer discovered his aptitude for draft drawing. In his spare time Sambourne continued to draw caricatures and study the great graphic artists such as William Hogarth and Albrecht Dürer. One version Sambourne recounts into the events leading to his introduction to the Punch's editor Mark Lemon is that his friend and fellow employee at Penn’s, Alfred German Reed, showed one of his sketches to his father the theatrical impresario Thomas German Reed. At his son’s urging Thomas passed the drawing on to Mark Lemon. Lemon was sufficiently impressed by the sketch that he encouraged Sambourne to take art lessons and consult the engraver Joseph Swain about drawing on wood. Pleased with the results Lemon published a drawing by Sambourne in the 27 April 1867 issue of Punch. This was an initial letter 'T' showing the politician John Bright striking a quintain.

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