George Edward Lodge
Encyclopedia
George Edward Lodge FZS
, (3 December 1860 – 5 February 1954) was a British
illustrator of bird
s and an authority on falconry
.
. His father, Samuel Lodge
(1829–1897), was a Canon
of Lincoln Cathedral
and rector of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. G E Lodge was the seventh child and fifth son of Samuel Lodge's eleven children. His brother is the famous photographer Reginald Badham Lodge (1852–1937).
He was educated at home, and became an accomplished taxidermist. He travelled abroad in search of birds and sport, visiting Norway
, Sweden
, the West Indies and the United States
. He was, however, most at home in the Scottish Highlands
.
He attended Lincoln School of Art and studied and worked in London
before moving in later life to Camberley
, Surrey.
, in conjunction with Archibald Thorburn
, whose skill as a bird-artist Lodge greatly admired. This admiration was returned as in the early 1910s Thorburn was approached by a representative of the New Zealand Government regarding a commission to provide plates for a proposed book of New Zealand native birds. Thorburn recommended Lodge for the commission and in 1913 Lodge began work. He studied bird skin specimens from a number of different collections in Britain including the Natural History Museum
and eventually supplied 90 plates to the Wildlife Service of the Department of Internal Affairs of New Zealand. Due to the illness of the author the proposed book was never finished and the plates remained with the Department of Internal Affairs until they were transferred to the Dominion Museum
in 1948. In 1983 the remaining 89 plates were eventually published in the book George Edward Lodge: The Unpublished New Zealand Bird Paintings with text by C.A. Fleming.
Lodge was also an expert at woodcut
s, in which craft he contributed to books by Henry Seebohm
and Badminton Library
. His illustrations appeared in Beebe
’s Monograph
of the Pheasants and Eliot Howard’s Introduction to Bird Behaviour (1929).
He published his only book, Memoirs of an Artist Naturalist in 1946, illustrating it with his own pictures. One of his last acts, shortly before his eyesight became impaired, was to institute a trust fund for the publication of original works in natural history
: the first publication was The Birds of the British Isles by Dr David Bannerman
, for which Lodge painted 377 illustrations depicting 435 species
.
, and was also an active member of the International Committee for Bird Protection
. In 1945 he was elected Vice-President of the British Ornithologists' Union
, the first artist to be so honoured.
, Surrey
and his ashes were interred in the same churchyard as his parents' grave at St Benedict’s, Horncastle, Lincolnshire.
An exhibition of Lodge's work, to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, was held at Nature in Art
, Gloucester, from 30 March–9 May 2010.
Zoological Society of London
The Zoological Society of London is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats...
, (3 December 1860 – 5 February 1954) was a British
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...
illustrator of bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s and an authority on falconry
Falconry
Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...
.
Early life
George Edward Lodge was born at Scrivelsby, LincolnshireLincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
. His father, Samuel Lodge
Samuel Lodge
The Rev. Samuel Lodge was author of Scrivelsby, the Home of the Champions He was a headmaster of Horncastle Grammar School, Lincolnshire, rector for 30 years of Scrivelsby Lincolnshire, and a Canon of Lincoln Cathedral.-Life and works:Samuel Lodge was born at Barking, Essex, a son of the Rev...
(1829–1897), was a Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral is a historic Anglican cathedral in Lincoln in England and seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 249 years . The central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt...
and rector of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. G E Lodge was the seventh child and fifth son of Samuel Lodge's eleven children. His brother is the famous photographer Reginald Badham Lodge (1852–1937).
He was educated at home, and became an accomplished taxidermist. He travelled abroad in search of birds and sport, visiting Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, the West Indies and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He was, however, most at home in the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
.
He attended Lincoln School of Art and studied and worked in 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...
before moving in later life to Camberley
Camberley
Camberley is a town in Surrey, England, situated 31 miles southwest of central London, in the corridor between the M3 and M4 motorways. The town lies close to the borders of both Hampshire and Berkshire; the boundaries intersect on the western edge of the town where all three counties...
, Surrey.
Works
One of the earliest works for which he made illustrations was Lord Lilford’s Birds of NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, in conjunction with Archibald Thorburn
Archibald Thorburn
Archibald Thorburn was a Scottish artist and bird illustrator, painting mostly in watercolour. He regularly visited Scotland to sketch birds in the wild, his favourite haunt being the Forest of Gaick near Kingussie in Invernesshire...
, whose skill as a bird-artist Lodge greatly admired. This admiration was returned as in the early 1910s Thorburn was approached by a representative of the New Zealand Government regarding a commission to provide plates for a proposed book of New Zealand native birds. Thorburn recommended Lodge for the commission and in 1913 Lodge began work. He studied bird skin specimens from a number of different collections in Britain including the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
and eventually supplied 90 plates to the Wildlife Service of the Department of Internal Affairs of New Zealand. Due to the illness of the author the proposed book was never finished and the plates remained with the Department of Internal Affairs until they were transferred to the Dominion Museum
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, located in Wellington. It is branded and commonly known as Te Papa and Our Place; "Te Papa Tongarewa" is broadly translatable as "the place of treasures of this land".The museum's principles...
in 1948. In 1983 the remaining 89 plates were eventually published in the book George Edward Lodge: The Unpublished New Zealand Bird Paintings with text by C.A. Fleming.
Lodge was also an expert at 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...
s, in which craft he contributed to books by Henry Seebohm
Henry Seebohm
Henry Seebohm was an English steel manufacturer, and amateur ornithologist, oologist and traveller.Seebohm was born in Bradford. His interest in natural history led him to travel widely, in Greece, Scandinavia, Turkey, and South Africa...
and Badminton Library
Badminton Library
The Badminton Library, called in full The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes, was a sporting and publishing project conceived and founded by Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort . Between 1885 and 1902 it developed into a series of sporting books which aimed to cover comprehensively all major...
. His illustrations appeared in Beebe
William Beebe
William Beebe, born Charles William Beebe was an American naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author...
’s Monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
of the Pheasants and Eliot Howard’s Introduction to Bird Behaviour (1929).
He published his only book, Memoirs of an Artist Naturalist in 1946, illustrating it with his own pictures. One of his last acts, shortly before his eyesight became impaired, was to institute a trust fund for the publication of original works in natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
: the first publication was The Birds of the British Isles by Dr David Bannerman
David Armitage Bannerman
David Armitage Bannerman OBE, MA, SD , Hon. LL.D. , FRSE, FZS was a British ornithologist.-Biography:After graduating from Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1909, Bannerman travelled extensively in Africa, the West Indies, South America and the Atlantic Islands.Rejected on health grounds by the...
, for which Lodge painted 377 illustrations depicting 435 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
.
Conservation
Lodge took an active part in the conservation of wild life. He served for many years on the executive council of the Society for the Promotion of Nature ReservesRoyal Society of Wildlife Trusts
The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts or RSWT is a registered charity, incorporated by Royal Charter to promote conservation and manage environmental funds...
, and was also an active member of the International Committee for Bird Protection
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
. In 1945 he was elected Vice-President of the British Ornithologists' Union
British Ornithologists' Union
The British Ornithologists' Union aims to encourage the study of birds in Britain, Europe and elsewhere, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation....
, the first artist to be so honoured.
Death and burial
Lodge died in hospital on 5 February 1954 at FrimleyFrimley
Frimley is a small English town situated 2 miles south of Camberley, in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire. It is about 31 miles west south-west of Central London. It is part of the Borough of Surrey Heath...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
and his ashes were interred in the same churchyard as his parents' grave at St Benedict’s, Horncastle, Lincolnshire.
Recognition
The author of his obituary in The Times wrote:A man of most exceptional charm and distinction, [Lodge] was recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the finest bird-artists this countryUnited KingdomThe 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...
has ever produced. His wide experience in falconry doubtless gave him special knowledge of the hawkHawkThe term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
family, for he was a keen falconer from his earliest days. In the painting of birds of prey he had no rival in any country. He was primarily an artist but, being a good naturalistNaturalistNaturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
as well, he was able to depict his subjects among their natural surroundings and to make them look alive.
An exhibition of Lodge's work, to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, was held at Nature in Art
Nature in Art
Nature in Art is a museum and art gallery at Wallsworth Hall, Twigworth, Gloucester, England, dedicated exclusively to art inspired by nature in all forms, styles and media...
, Gloucester, from 30 March–9 May 2010.
Biography
- George Lodge - Artist Naturalist John Savory (Ed.), Croom Helm, 1986 ISBN 0-7099-3366-5
- Obituary, J. K. Stanford, in The FieldThe Field (magazine)The Field is the world's oldest country and field sports magazine, having been published continuously since 1853.The famous sportsman Robert Smith Surtees, the creator of Jorrocks, was the driving force behind the initial publication...
, 25 February 1954 - Obituary in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
Tuesday 9 February 1954 (page 9 column 1)
Notable relatives
- Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge Physicist
- Sir Richard Lodge Historian
- Eleanor Constance LodgeEleanor Constance LodgeEleanor Constance Lodge, CBE, was born on 18 September 1869 at Hanley, Staffordshire. She was Vice-Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1890 to 1921 and then Principal of Westfield College, Hampstead, in the University of London from 1921 to 1931...
Historian - Carron O LodgeCarron O LodgeCarron Angus Cyril Oliver Lodge was an English figure and landscape painter...
Artist - Francis Graham LodgeFrancis Graham LodgeFrancis Graham Lodge was a self-taught English black and white artist. He was born in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of artist Carron O Lodge, and was known by his second name Graham...
Artist