Alfred Garth Jones
Encyclopedia
Alfred Garth Jones was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 who worked mainly in woodcut
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...

, pen and ink line art
Line art
Line art is any image that consists of distinct straight and curved lines placed against a background, without gradations in shade or hue to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects...

 drawing and watercolour.

Early life

Alfred Jones was born in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 in 1872, the son of Thomas Jones (b1844) and Mary McCullock (b1846). At that time, Thomas Jones was a mechanical draughtsman although he later progressed to become an Engineering Lecturer.

In the United Kingdom Census 1881, Alfred is listed (aged 8) with the rest of his family (Ada, Mary, Thomas, Alfred, Ernest, Robert, Maud and later Percy) which was resident in Moss Side
Moss Side
Moss Side is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre and has a population of around 17,537...

, then a Manchester suburb. At age 18, Alfred was still living with his parents and was studying art in Manchester. It seems that within a few years he had moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in order to advance his career in the arts. This was most probably in order to become a student at the National Art Training School in South Kensington
South Kensington
South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....

, an institution that would become the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...

 in 1896.

The March, 1901 edition of The Poster publication included an article entitled "Some Remarks on the Work of Alfred Garth Jones" (by The Editor). This describes how Jones continued his training by attending the Slade School of Fine Art
Slade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...

 as a pupil of Professor Fred Brown
Frederick Brown (artist)
Frederick Brown was a British art teacher and painter.He was born in Chelmsford, Essex. From 1868 to 1877 he studied at the National Art Training School, London . He later studied at the Académie Julian, Paris. His work was influenced by Jules Bastien-Lepage...

. He then extended his studies in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 at the Académie Julian
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...

 where he was directed by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens , was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style.Born in Fourquevaux, he was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexandre Bida...

, before returning to England in 1894.

On the 15th December, 1898 Alfred married Harriette Napier Osborne (a farmer's daughter b 10 December 1875 in Marden, Kent
Marden, Kent
Marden is a village about 13 km south of Maidstone and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the flood plain of the River Beult near Maidstone. It is on the B2079 road linking the A229 Maidstone with the A21 at Flimwell. It has its own railway...

) at The Parish Church (now Chelsea Old Church
Chelsea Old Church
Chelsea Old Church is on the north bank of the River Thames near Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London, England. It is the church for a parish in the Diocese of London, part of the Church of England. It is located on the corner of Old Church Street and Cheyne Walk. Inside, there is seating for 400...

) in the parish of St. Luke, Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The ceremony was attended by Alfred's father, Thomas, and by Harriette's mother, Lydia Napier Osborne (nee Hardy). By the time of the United Kingdom Census 1901
United Kingdom Census 1901
A nationwide census was conducted in England and Wales on 31 March 1901. It contains records for 32 million people and 6 million houses, It covers the whole of England and Wales, with the exception of parts of Deal in Kent. Separate censuses were held in Scotland and Ireland...

 the couple were living on the King's Road
King's Road
King's Road is a street in Chelsea, London, England.King's Road or Kings Road may also refer to:* King's Road * King's Road * King's Road * King's Road...

, Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

.

In 1911, Alfred and Harriette were living in Wandsworth
Wandsworth
Wandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...

 with their 5 year old daughter, Barbara Garth Jones. The census of that year records that Harriette had by this time given birth to two children. Brian Garth Jones had been born in 1902 but had died aged four. The census forms in the United Kingdom were then required to be completed by the head of the household, for that individual address, and this document bears the name and signature "Alfred Garth Jones".

Career

Alfred adopted the middle name Garth early in his career in order to distinguish himself from artists with a similar name. The reason for choosing this name is not known, but may have been influenced by the Welsh ancestry of his forefathers. His earlier works were signed A Garth Jones (or A G J), although later this was shortened to Garth Jones.
Jones' illustrations were used in several notable publications around the turn of the century, including works by Tennyson
Tennyson
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the first Baron Tennyson, was an English poet.Tennyson may also refer to:-People:* Baron Tennyson, the barony itself** Alfred, Lord Tennyson , poet...

, H.G. Wells, John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...

, Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle is a rugby player. His club is Garryowen. His usual position is inside centre, but he also plays out-half. He has made two appearances for Munster Rugby in the Magners League, but was released by Munster at the end of the 2008/2009 season. While at Munster he was selected for the...

 and Carmen Sylva.

In 1894, the first examples of Jones' illustrations appeared in "The Tournament of Love" by William Theodore Peters
William Theodore Peters
William Theodore Peters was an American poet and actor. Associated with 1890s decadence, he was a friend of Ernest Dowson, who dedicated a poem to him, "To William Theodore Peters on His Renaissance Cloak". In October 1892, he commissioned Dowson to write the play that would ultimately become the...

 and "Fairy Tales from Classic Myths for boys and girls" by Charles H Smith.

Two years later, Jones edited The Beam, a bi-monthly magazine published by students of the National Art Training Schools. There were only three editions produced between January and May, 1896.

From 1896 to nearly the end of 1899, Alfred was design master at the Lambeth School of Art
Lambeth School of Art
Lambeth School of Art was founded in 1854 by William Gregory as a night school associated with the St. Mary the Less Church in London.-History:...

.

In 1898, he produced a woodcut portrayal of the bound Samson in a collection of John Milton's poems.

By 1901, Jones' reputation was sufficient that he was selected, along with Harold Nelson, by Elisabeth of Wied
Elisabeth of Wied
-Titles and styles:*29 December 1843 – 15 November 1869: Her Serene Highness Princess Elisabeth of Wied*15 November 1869 – 26 March 1881: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Romania...

 (Queen Consort of Carol I of Romania
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...

) to illustrate the English edition of a book of verse (A Real Queen’s Fairy Book, published by George Newnes
George Newnes
Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet was a publisher and editor in England.-Background and education:...

) which she had written under the nom de plume of Carmen Sylva.
In France at around the same time, Jérôme Doucet (1865–1957) chose Jones to be the illustrator for his "Contes de la Fileuse" (Tales of the Spinner). Doucet was noted for the care that he took in choosing his illustrators. This book contains 117 pen-drawings by Jones so that the November, 1901 issue of The Studio reported that "It has fallen to the lot of Mr. Garth Jones to be more widely known in France than he is in his own country". Also in this year, Alfred, Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam
In Memoriam A.H.H.
In Memoriam A.H.H. is a poem by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, completed in 1849. It is a requiem for the poet's Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833...

 was published with illustrations by Jones.

Around 1902, Jones was associated with the Carlton Studio, one of the largest studios of commercial art in London at that time. During this period, along with Albert Angus Turbayne
Albert Angus Turbayne
Albert Angus Turbayne was an American book designer and bookbinding artist.thumb|An example of Turbayne's workTurbayne was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He worked in London for the London County Council School of Photoengraving and Lithography and also for Carlton Studio. His principal artistic...

, he was of assistance to a number of Canadian book design artists who had joined Carlton in order to improve their skills.

In 1904, a mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

 portraying the Arts was designed by Jones and executed by the Bromsgrove Guild
Bromsgrove Guild
The Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts was a company of modern artists and designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded by Walter Gilbert. The guild worked in metal, wood, plaster, bronze, tapestry, glass and other mediums....

 for incorporation into the pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...

ed gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

 of the new Hull School of Art
Hull School of Art
The Hull School of Art was founded in 1861 by a group of 'working men' as a response to a British government circular. The circular was issued by the British Government's Department of Science and Art...

, a listed building that still stands on Anlaby Road, Hull
Anlaby Road, Hull
Anlaby Road is a major arterial road and residential district in west Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire in the north of England. It runs west from the city centre to the city boundary, designated A1105 to its junction with Boothferry Road and then B1231 from there to the city boundary.Anlaby Road is...

.

By 1910 - 1912 Jones was again teaching at the Lambeth School of Art
Lambeth School of Art
Lambeth School of Art was founded in 1854 by William Gregory as a night school associated with the St. Mary the Less Church in London.-History:...

, where he was described as the member of staff for decorative and illuminative design. The length of this tenure is not known.

In America, his illustrations for Henry van Dyke
Henry van Dyke
Henry Jackson van Dyke was an American author, educator, and clergyman.-Biography:Henry van Dyke was born on November 11, 1852 in Germantown, Pennsylvania in the United States....

's short stories the Half-Told Tales appeared in the January to June, 1912 issue of Scribner's Magazine
Scribner's Magazine
Scribner's Magazine was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. Scribner's Magazine was the second magazine out of the "Scribner's" firm, after the publication of Scribner's Monthly...

. In October 1912, Charles Scribner's Sons
Charles Scribner's Sons
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...

 published the first edition of Van Dyke's The Unknown Quantity, with artwork by various illustrators, of which Garth Jones was one. The book included Half-Told Tales and so it is likely that Jones' same illustrations and decorations were used.

The 19 May 1917 edition of the American newspaper The Independent
The Independent (Boston)
The Independent published in Boston, Massachusetts, was a weekly newspaper devoted to politics, social and economic tendencies, history, literature, and the arts. It was published from 1848 to 1928, when it merged with The Outlook....

 included an advertisement for the Packard
Packard
Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...

 Twin-Six motor carriage, illustrated by Jones.

Scribner’s Magazine for July to December 1925 showed Jones' work for an entry entitled The Two Selves by Elsa Barker
Elsa Barker
Elsa Barker was an American novelist, short-story writer and poet. She became known for three books Letters from a Living Dead Man , War Letters from the Living Dead Man , and Last Letters From the Living Dead Man , that she said were messages from a dead man produced through automatic...

 (1869–1954), an American novelist and poet, born in Leicester, Vermont. However, by this time there are few other references to indicate that Jones' work was still being published, except for a few posters, such as The Bazaar for Collectors and Connoisseurs, from the 1920s.

Jones' paintings were used as front covers for several issues of Bibby's Annual, edited by Joseph Bibby of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, in the 1920s and also for the retrospect and epilogue edition in 1936.

Later life and death

Although the commercial demand for his work seems to have declined in the years after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Jones continued to produce art until the end of his life. In November, 1939 he presented a dedicated watercolour as a wedding gift to his nephew Alan (the son of his younger brother Ernest) and Alan's bride, Peggy Holt. Similar paintings had already been produced to mark the marriages of each of his brother Ernest's children, as well as one for his unmarried sister Maud. Other works completed for the family include a number of bookplate
Bookplate
A bookplate, also known as ex-librīs [Latin, "from the books of..."], is usually a small print or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the inside front cover, to indicate its owner...

s, all titled Ex Libris
Ex Libris
Ex Libris is a Latin phrase, meaning literally, "from the books". It is often used to indicate ownership of a book, as in "from the books of..." or from the library of...Ex Libris may also refer to:...

. Amongst these were plates for Ernest and other relatives, Joyce Holt, Eric Vlies and Olga Jones. In some cases the original print blocks still exist. Several of his watercolours and drawings are also retained within the family.

In 1943, Alfred wrote a letter from an address in Chadwell Heath
Chadwell Heath
Chadwell Heath is a place in the London Borough of Redbridge and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, both in Greater London. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...

, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

 to his brother Ernest on the subject of his nephew Philip's death in a flying accident whilst training pilots in the USA.

The exact date and location of Alfred's death are not known.

Harriette Napier Jones died in St. Pancras in 1946.

Barbara Garth Jones married Eric Hosmer in 1930 and they had three daughters between 1932 and 1942.

Notable illustrated works

  • The Tournament of Love, William Theodore Peters
    William Theodore Peters
    William Theodore Peters was an American poet and actor. Associated with 1890s decadence, he was a friend of Ernest Dowson, who dedicated a poem to him, "To William Theodore Peters on His Renaissance Cloak". In October 1892, he commissioned Dowson to write the play that would ultimately become the...

     published by Brentano's
    Brentano's
    Brentano's was an American bookstore. In addition to the numerous locations in the United States, there was a Brentano's on Avenue de l'Opéra in Paris, at the same location for 114 years....

    , 1894.
  • Fairy Tales from Classic Myths, by Charles H Smith published by John Heywood, Manchester, 1894.
  • The Minor Poems of John Milton
    John Milton
    John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...

     (George Bell & Sons, 1898).
  • A Real Queen's Fairy Tales. Carmen Sylva (The Queen of Roumania) Davis and Company, Chicago, 1901.
  • Front cover (Father Christmas), of The Ladies Field Magazine, Santa Claus Supplement, 30 November 1901.
  • In Memoriam by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (George Newnes, 1901).
  • The Hound of the Baskervilles
    The Hound of the Baskervilles
    The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an...

    . Arthur Conan Doyle
    Arthur Conan Doyle
    Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

    . (London: George Newnes, 1902). Front cover design.
  • The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
    Sherlock Holmes
    Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

     by Arthur Conan Doyle
    Arthur Conan Doyle
    Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

    . (London: George Newnes, 1901). Front cover design.
  • The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Esquire, F. R. S. By Samuel Pepys
    Samuel Pepys
    Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

    . Edited by Lord Braybrooke. (London: George Newnes Ltd.; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1902) Frontispiece
  • Knyght of theTowre (The Book of the Knight of the Tower): Book of Thenseygnementes and Techynge That the Knyght of the Towre Made to His Doughters by Landry Geoffroy De La Tour Chevalier. (London George Newnes Ltd, 1902)
  • The Valley of Spiders by H.G. Wells which appeared in Pearson's Magazine
    Pearson's Magazine
    Pearson's Magazine was an influential publication which first appeared in Britain in 1896. It specialised in speculative literature, political discussion, often of a socialist bent, and the arts. Its contributors included Upton Sinclair, George Bernard Shaw, Maxim Gorky and H. G...

     in March, 1903.
  • Long Will, A Romance by Florence Converse
    Florence Converse
    -Biography:Florence Converse was born in New Orleans in 1871.She graduated from Wellesley College in 1893 and was a member of the editorial staff of the The Churchman from 1900 to 1908, when she joined the staff of the Atlantic Monthly....

     (1903).
  • The Shorter Works of Walter Savage Landor
    Walter Savage Landor
    Walter Savage Landor was an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity...

     (London : George Newnes ; New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904) Wood-engraved title-page compartment and illustrated endpapers by Alfred Garth Jones.
  • Contes de la Fileuse and Contes de Haute-Lisse by Jérôme Doucet (Ch Tallandier, Paris)
  • The Dramas and Satires of Byron (published in London by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., and in New York by Charles Scribner’s Sons, c1900)
  • Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb
    Charles Lamb
    Charles Lamb was an English essayist, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, which he produced with his sister, Mary Lamb . Lamb has been referred to by E.V...

     (Methuen, 1920)
  • Men Like Gods
    Men Like Gods
    Men Like Gods is a novel written in 1923 by H. G. Wells. It features a utopian parallel universe.-Plot summary :The hero of the novel, Mr. Barnstaple, is a depressive journalist working for a newspaper called the Liberal. At the beginning of the story, Barnstaple, as well as a few other...

     by H.G. Wells (1923)
  • I See All - The World's First Picture Encyclopedia edited by Arthur Mee
    Arthur Mee
    Arthur Henry Mee was a British writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for The Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopaedia, The Children's Newspaper, and The King's England...

     (Edited at John Carpenter House, Issued by the Amalgamated Press at Fleetway House, London, c1930)
  • Great Stories Of All Time by Catherine M Christian
    Catherine Christian
    Catherine Christian was an English novelist, known for her children’s books and retellings of Arthurian legend. She is classified as having produced 45 works in 85 publications in two languages and with 1,019 library holdings...

     (Hutchinson Circa 1937)
  • Fairy Tales from Classic Myths for boys and girls by Charles H Smith (J. Heywood: London, 1894)
  • The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley
    Percy Bysshe Shelley
    Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...

     by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ; illustrated by ALFRED GARTH JONES (Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd. 1 Jan 1920) ASIN: B0006DH5I6
  • Life at the Mermaid by J. C. Squire
    J. C. Squire
    Sir John Collings Squire was a British poet, writer, historian, and influential literary editor of the post-World War I period.- Biography :...

    , Collins' Clear-Type Press, London & Glasgow. circa 1920

External links

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