Edward S. Hodgson (25 April 1866 – 15 April 1937)^[4][5] was aScottish artist, etcher, and illustrator who began a career on the sea, but after an injury, switched to art. He is probably best known as the illustrator of 17 boys' adventure books byPercy F. Westerman.

Edward was born in the afternoon of 25 April 1866 atArbroath,Angus, Scotland.^{[4][note 2]} His father Alfred (c. 1852 – 1881),^[7]: 234 a machinist from Bordeaux France was then employed as a railway mechanic. His mother was Jessie Hanton Dryden (born c. 1833).

Hodgson began his career as a sailor, but owing to an accident to his leg, he was forced to give up the sea. As he had a flair for painting, he took up art and was trained by W. M. Grubb at theHigh School of Dundee.^[8]

Hodgson married Mary Wilson Crowe (14 Feb 1871 – 16 February 1945) in St Peter's Parish, Dundee, on 4 June 1894, and the marriage was registered the following day. Mary was the daughter of David Crowe, a wine and spirit merchant.^[9] The couple had at least three children:

• David Crowe Hodgson (16 August 1895 – 21 July 1937)^{[10][11][note 3]}
• Ronald Hodgson (born 27 February 1899)^[13]
• George Dryden Hodgson (17 May 1902 – 20 November 1955)^[13][14]

Hodgson moved to England in 1894, settling atBushey, Hertfordshire.^[15] His address in the 1911 census wasSt. Ninians, Finch Lane, Bushey.^[12] He was still at that address when he died in 1937,^[5] as was his wife when she died in 1945.^[16]

Hodgson continued to work until almost the end of his life. He died on Thursday 15 April 1937 atWatford Peace Memorial Hospital. He was cremated atGolders Green Crematorium on Saturday, 24 April 1937.^{[5][note 4]} Mary was staying at Shepherds' Hotel inDeal, Kent on 29 September 1939,^[17] at the time of the1939 Register. She was still living at home in Finch Lane when she died on 26 February 1945 at 60 Vicarage Road, at the home of her widowed daughter-in-law.^[11] Her estate was valued at £8,465 9s. 2d.^[16]

After abandoning his maritime career he studied art. However, ships and the sea were a constant feature of his output, especially as an illustrator. He was successful at the Dundee School of Art and was awarded the grade "good with a certificate" for both freehand drawing and practical geometry in the Second Grade exams 1884.^{[18][note 5]} The following year he was awarded a first class art teachers certificate in Practical Plane and solid geometry, and a second class certificate in Building Construction, Elementary Stage, as well as a teachers certificate in drawing and shading groups of models in the Third Class exams at the Dundee School of Art.^[19] He used his certificate and taught art in several private schools in the district.^[12]

He established a studio in Reform Street, Dundee.^[8] He was a frequent exhibitor in Dundee, mainly of landscapes and seascapes.^[12] He exhibitedThe Lass that Baits the Line at the Dundee Fine Art Exhibition in 1886, and it was adjudged to be "a small but promising work in its execution."^[3] He showed a "beautiful watercolour of Dundee" and three "very clever" oil paintings at the Annual Exhibition of the Dundee Art Club in 1888.^[20] Hodgson was elected vice president of the newly formed "Graphic Arts Association" in January 1890,^[21] and was re-elected at the end of the year.^[22] He exhibited one work at the 1890 Dundee Fine Art Exhibition and five at the same venue in 1891.^[23][24] The Dundee Directory of 1890-91 gave Hodgson as the Vice President of the Dundee Graphics Arts Association,^[25] and living at Baldovan Villa, Baldovan, Dundee.^[26]

Hodgson was not only a painter an illustrator, but also an etcher. He produced prints of two etchings in 1891 which were said to be "extremely pleasing both in conception and execution" and showed his "attainment of very creditable mastery of the technique of the etcher's art."^[27] In that year also he produced a portfolio of six etchings of scenes in Dundee,^{[note 6]} which were said to be "graceful transcripts of local scenery".^[28] In the following year, his etching ofDundee from the River was accepted byQueen Victoria, whose private secretary thanked Hodgson for his "finely executed etching." The etching had been published by Liddle of Dundee.^[30] In 1894 Hodson had "a beautiful etching" ofFettes College,Edinburgh published by print makers Dickinson and Foster ofBond Street inLondon.^[15]

In 1894 Hodgson moved toBushey, Hertfordshire to study underHubert von Herkomer at the art school he had established there in 1883.^[31] When he exhibited a landscapeBy Mead and Stream at the Dundee Find Art Exhibition in the following year theDundee Advertiser said that the landscape showed "how much he had profited by his studies underHerkomer."^[32]

By 1900 he was illustrating for magazines, and his work eventually appeared in, among others:^[7]: 235

• The Captain
• Cassell's Family Magazine
• Chums
• The Girl's Realm
• The Graphic
• The Illustrated London News
• Little Folks
• The Pall Mall Magazine
• Pearson's Magazine
• The Quiver
• The Royal Magazine
• The Sphere
• The Strand Magazine
• The Wide World Magazine
• The Windsor Magazine
• The Sketch

During theFirst World War Hodgson worked for the Graphic, mainly producing pen and ink illustrations of the war at sea.^[7]: 235

In 1896, Hodgson illustrated a reissue ofVictor Hugo'sThe Toilers of the Sea.^[7]: 235 In 1907 he illustratedThe Pearl Seekers by Alexander MacdonaldFRGS with "some splendid illustrations".^[33]

Among the writers whose work Hodgson illustrated were:^{[note 7]}

• R. M. Ballantyne (1825–1894), a prolificScottish author of juvenile fiction and an accomplishedwater-colourist.
• John Barrow (1808–1898), the second son ofSir John Barrow, he was head of the Admiralty Records Office, who wrote and edited travelogues.^[34]
• John Joy Bell (1871–1934), a prolificScottish writer and journalist, best remimbered for his comic fictional creation, Wee Macgreegor.
• F. S. Brereton (1872–1957), who wrote tales ofImperial heroism for children.
• Harry Collingwood (1843–1922), a writer of boys'adventure fiction, usually in anautical setting.
• Herbert Eastwick Compton (1853–1906), anEnglish novelist, biographer, world traveller, and writer on miscellaneous topics.
• James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851), who created a unique form ofAmerican literature with hishistorical fiction with frontier and Native American themes.
• E. E. Cowper (c. 1859–1933), Edith Eliza Cowper, a prolificEnglish author of adventure stories for girls, much of which was published by theSPCK, who had eight children byFrank Cowper, yachtsman and author, from whom she separated shortly after the last of her children was born.
• Bernard Heldmann (1857–1915), a prolific author who published 76 novels and hundreds of short stories.^[35]
• Victor Hugo (1802–1885), AFrenchpoet, dramatist, and novelist, who is now best remembered forLes Misérables, (1862) andThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831)
• T. T. Jeans (1871–1938), aRoyal Navy medical officer who wrotejuvenile fiction to show boys what life in the modern navy was really like.^{[note 8]}
• W. H. G. Kingston (1814–1880), who wrote boy'sadventure fiction.
• Alexander Macdonald (1878–1939),FRGS, an explorer, miner, film maker, and author of boys' adventure stories.^[36][37]
• Frederick Marryat (1792–1848), aRoyal Navy officer who wrote adventure books for children.
• L. T. Meade (1844–1914), Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith, a prolificIrish writer of stories for girls.
• Frank Hubert Shaw [fr] (1878–1960), aRoyal Navy officer who saw service in World War One and a prolific author who wrote some seventy books and estimated 7,000 boys' magazine stories writing as Frank H. Shaw, Frank Cleveland, Archibald Guthrie, Grenville Hammerton, Frank Hubert, and Ernest Winchfield.^[38]
• Dorothy à Beckett Terrell (1879–1949), a writer of five romantic novels for young women, one of whichSister-in-Chief (Cassell, London, 1912) won a £250 prize for girl's stories.^[39]
• Jules Verne (1828–1905), theFrench novelist poet and playwright, sometimes called the "Father of Science Fiction".
• Percy Westerman (1875–1959), a prolific author of boys'adventure fiction, many with military and naval themes. Hodgson illustrated seventeen books by Percy F. Westerman.

Three of the sets of illustrations by Hodgson for books by Westerman are shown below.^{[note 9]}

In 1916 Hodgson illustratedRounding up the Raider (Blackie and Son, London) by Westerman. In this story, threeRoyal Navy sub-lieutenants are travelling home from theFar East by a mail steamer when they are captured by a disguised Germancommerce raider. They swim ashore when the raider is offGerman East Africa and have further adventures.^[40] Illustrations by courtesy ofProject Gutenberg.^[41]

• 
  No. 1
• 
  No. 2
• 
  No. 3
• 
  No. 4

Hodgson also provided the illustrations forUnder the White Ensign by Westerman (Blackie and Son, London, 1917). In this story, two young Royal Naval Reserve officers have various adventures on theirarmed merchant cruiser in the Mediterranean.^[42] Illustrations by courtesy of Project Gutenberg.^[43]

• 
  No. 1
• 
  No. 2
• 
  No. 3
• 
  No. 4
• 
  No. 5

Another work by Westerman that Hodgson illustrated wasThe Third Officer (Blackie and Son, London, 1921). This was a story of post-war piracy in which the crew of a ship are imprisoned on a small island and escape in a small open boat, only to face further disaster.^[44] Illustrations by courtesy of Project Gutenberg.^[45]

• 
  No. 1
• 
  No. 2
• 
  No. 3
• 
  No. 3

• Gutenberg titles illustrated by Hodgson
• Works related toEdward S. Hodgson at Wikisource

• 1866 births
• 1937 deaths
• 19th-century Scottish painters
• 20th-century Scottish painters
• Artists from Dundee
• Scottish illustrators
• Scottish watercolourists
• Scottish etchers
• British watercolourists
• 19th-century Scottish male artists
• 20th-century Scottish male artists
• Magazine illustrators
• Scottish children's book illustrators

• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• Articles with hCards