David Henry Friston

David Henry Friston (1821-1906) was born on December 18th, 1821 (yes, in the time of publishing of this post the Wikipedia was wrong) and died on April 20th, 1906 of prostate cancer. Today he is best known as the first illustrator of Sherlock Holmes, yet his opus in the field of literature for children and youth (in books magazines, and newspapers) is way more impressive although none of the illustrated works belongs among the today well-known ones. He was a professional painter, self-declaring as a historical painter for most of his life, becoming an illustrator only as an already established artist and never as the exclusive full-time occupation.

Apart from already mentions illustrations for Study in Scarlet, the first story about the most famous detective in the world (but already the fifth short story by Arthur Conan Clark illustrated by Friston) we should probably mention at least illustration for Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s vampire story Carmilla and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. He also occasionally collaborated with theatres, like famous Drury Lane Theatre, from which the poster for Aladdin and Wonderful Lamp below comes, or made engravings for reviews of original productions of Gilbert and Sullivan plays.

Here are a few more interesting facts about D. H. Friston of D. H. F. as he often signed his works:

• The slightly mysterious date of his birth is not so so surprising if we know that kids were born at their home and only christening, often happening much later, were documented. Many children had the same names as their parents and great parents. If documents were lost in a fire or for another reason, there was even more confusion. David Henry, for instance, married Harriet Malone in 1839. Both claimed they were 21 years old at the time because younger people should have parental consent. It's clear he was younger than 21 and she might be a few months younger as well.

• David and Harriet had seven children together (she had one by unknown father before). When she died in 1854, he remarried about a year later to Ann King. As fas as we know, there were no kids in this marriage which lasted less than four years. When she died he married for the third time (to Ann Hughes) and had three additional children. His third wife died in 1882 and he lived on his own for almost two decades before he married for the fourth and last time - to Edith Emily Burtenshaw, who was a former model and had a nine-year-old son in the time of marriage.

• While he never became a member of the Royal Academy of Art, he regularly exhibited there approximately between 1850 and 1870, with about 15 exhibitions altogether. He also exhibited at another prestigious institution Royal Society of British Arts. According to available data, he focused his creativity on illustrations in later years, very likely due to a more steady and reliable source of income as a father of seven (and more) kids probably should. In the last decade of his life, his production felt, again, very likely due to his deteriorating health.