Eric Fitch Daglish
Encyclopedia
Eric Fitch Daglish was a British
engraver and author. He illustrated classics by Izaak Walton
, Henry David Thoreau
, Gilbert White
and W. H. Hudson with exquisite wood engravings. Daglish also authored a number of natural history and wildlife/countryside books. Many of his books are now out of print but the originals are sold over the Internet.
, London
in 1892, the son of James William Daglish and Kate Annie Fitch. The family was originally from Whickham
in County Durham
but moved to London in the mid 19th century and established a cabinet making and upholstery business.
Daglish studied at Hereford County College and the University of London
and went to Bonn
, Germany
to study science before World War I
. During the war he served the Middlesex Imperial Yeomanry and the Royal Field Artillery
in Ireland, Flanders
and France
. After the war he continued serving the army, becoming an education officer for the Woolwich Garrison. He went on to become a professional naturalist lecturing on zoology
at Toynbee Hall
and became a member of the Society of Wood Engravers
and was taught wood engraving by close friend and fellow member Paul Nash
. In 1920 he exhibited three wood engravings at the opening exhibition of the Society.
In 1922, Daglish left London and moved to Buckinghamshire Chilterns, where he sought to pursue his life-long ambition to write about the countryside and natural history. Just a year later, in 1923, he published his first book. He developed an interest in engraving and joined the Society of Wood Engravers
, and become close friends with other members aside from Paul
and John Nash
such as Eric Gill
who lived in his area. As his skills in wood engravings developed, he illustrated many of his books, mostly in black and white. However, his Birds Of The British Isles (1948) was in colour with a total of 48 engravings, 25 in colour and the cover of the book had a coloured wood engraving of goldfinch
es. He also illustrated books by other authors, classics by Izaak Walton
such as Compleat Angler, and the works of Henry David Thoreau
, and also engraved the works of the naturalists Gilbert White
and W. H. Hudson with high quality engravings. Daglish was also a keen painter and painted many pictures, notably of birds such as parrot
s.
Today Daglish's engravings are owned by the British Museum
, the Victoria & Albert Museum, art galleries in Liverpool
, Manchester
, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Boston
and Philadelphia.
Daglish was also a noted dog enthusiast and judged at many dog shows, including Crufts
. He authored several successful handbooks on various dog breeds such as The Dog Breeder's Manual in 1951.
He died in 1966. He is survived by two sons (twins) and one daughter from his first marriage to Alice Archer, and by one daughter and a son from his second marriage to Esther Lena Rutland. His son Stephen Daglish has conducted and published research on the tracing the origins of the Daglish family name.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
engraver and author. He illustrated classics by Izaak Walton
Izaak Walton
Izaak Walton was an English writer. Best known as the author of The Compleat Angler, he also wrote a number of short biographies which have been collected under the title of Walton's Lives.-Biography:...
, Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
, Gilbert White
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...
and W. H. Hudson with exquisite wood engravings. Daglish also authored a number of natural history and wildlife/countryside books. Many of his books are now out of print but the originals are sold over the Internet.
Biography
Daglish was born in IslingtonIslington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, 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 1892, the son of James William Daglish and Kate Annie Fitch. The family was originally from Whickham
Whickham
Whickham is a town in North East England, four miles south west of Newcastle upon Tyne and four and a half miles west of Gateshead. Whickham is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Its postal address is Whickham, Newcastle upon Tyne. Whickham is situated on high ground overlooking the...
in County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
but moved to London in the mid 19th century and established a cabinet making and upholstery business.
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and went to Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to study science before 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...
. During the war he served the Middlesex Imperial Yeomanry and the Royal Field Artillery
Royal Field Artillery
The Royal Field Artillery of the British Army provided artillery support for the British Army. It came into being when the Royal Artillery was divided on 1 July 1899, it was reamalgamated back into the Royal Artillery in 1924....
in Ireland, Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. After the war he continued serving the army, becoming an education officer for the Woolwich Garrison. He went on to become a professional naturalist lecturing on zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
at Toynbee Hall
Toynbee Hall
Toynbee Hall is a building in Tower Hamlets, East London which is the home of a charity working to bridge the gap between people of all social and financial backgrounds, with a focus on eradicating poverty and promoting social inclusion....
and became a member of the Society of Wood Engravers
Society of Wood Engravers
The Society of Wood Engravers was co-founded in 1920 by British wood engraving artist Gwendoline Raverat, wife of French painter Jacques Raverat.The Society was revived in 1984 by Hilary Paynter. It publishes a bulletin called Multiples....
and was taught wood engraving by close friend and fellow member Paul Nash
Paul Nash (artist)
Paul Nash was a British landscape painter, surrealist and war artist, as well as a book-illustrator, writer and designer of applied art. He was the older brother of the artist John Nash.-Early life:...
. In 1920 he exhibited three wood engravings at the opening exhibition of the Society.
In 1922, Daglish left London and moved to Buckinghamshire Chilterns, where he sought to pursue his life-long ambition to write about the countryside and natural history. Just a year later, in 1923, he published his first book. He developed an interest in engraving and joined the Society of Wood Engravers
Society of Wood Engravers
The Society of Wood Engravers was co-founded in 1920 by British wood engraving artist Gwendoline Raverat, wife of French painter Jacques Raverat.The Society was revived in 1984 by Hilary Paynter. It publishes a bulletin called Multiples....
, and become close friends with other members aside from Paul
Paul Nash (artist)
Paul Nash was a British landscape painter, surrealist and war artist, as well as a book-illustrator, writer and designer of applied art. He was the older brother of the artist John Nash.-Early life:...
and John Nash
John Nash (artist)
John Northcote Nash CBE RA was a British painter of landscape and still-life, wood-engraver and illustrator, particularly of botanic works.-Biography:...
such as Eric Gill
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill was a British sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement...
who lived in his area. As his skills in wood engravings developed, he illustrated many of his books, mostly in black and white. However, his Birds Of The British Isles (1948) was in colour with a total of 48 engravings, 25 in colour and the cover of the book had a coloured wood engraving of goldfinch
Goldfinch
Goldfinch may refer to any of the following species of bird from the genus Carduelis:* American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis* European Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis* Lawrence's Goldfinch, Carduelis lawrencei...
es. He also illustrated books by other authors, classics by Izaak Walton
Izaak Walton
Izaak Walton was an English writer. Best known as the author of The Compleat Angler, he also wrote a number of short biographies which have been collected under the title of Walton's Lives.-Biography:...
such as Compleat Angler, and the works of Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
, and also engraved the works of the naturalists Gilbert White
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...
and W. H. Hudson with high quality engravings. Daglish was also a keen painter and painted many pictures, notably of birds such as parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
s.
Today Daglish's engravings are owned by the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, the Victoria & Albert Museum, art galleries in 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...
, 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...
, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and Philadelphia.
Daglish was also a noted dog enthusiast and judged at many dog shows, including Crufts
Crufts
Crufts is an annual international Championship conformation show for dogs organised and hosted by the Kennel Club, currently held every March at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. It is the largest annual dog show in the world, as declared by Guinness World Records, and lasts...
. He authored several successful handbooks on various dog breeds such as The Dog Breeder's Manual in 1951.
He died in 1966. He is survived by two sons (twins) and one daughter from his first marriage to Alice Archer, and by one daughter and a son from his second marriage to Esther Lena Rutland. His son Stephen Daglish has conducted and published research on the tracing the origins of the Daglish family name.
Selected works
A selection of books written by or illustrated by Eric Fitch Daglish:- The South Country, Edward Thomas and Eric Fitch Daglish (1932)
- A Nature Calendar (1932)
- A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers, The Open Air Library by Henry Thoreau (1932)
- How To See Beasts (1933)
- How to See Flowers (1933)
- The Dog Owner's Guide (1933)
- The Gardener's Companion by Miles Hadfield (1938)
- The Lake Counties by W.G. Collingwood, A. Reginald Smith and Eric Fitch Daglish. (1939)
- Fly Fishing by Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1939)
- Birds Of The British Isles (1948)
- The Dog Breeder's Manual (1951)
- Enjoying the Country (1952)
