Alfred Henry Forrester (10 September 1804 – 26 May 1872) was an English author, comics artist, illustrator and artist, who was also known under the pseudonym of Alfred Crowquill.

Biography

Christmas with the Yule Log, Illustrated London News, 23 Dec 1848

Alfred Forrester was the son of Robert Forrester of 5 North Gate,

Royal Exchange, London The Royal Exchange in London was founded in the 16th century by the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham on the suggestion of his factor Richard Clough to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London. The site was provided by the City of London Cor ...

, a public notary. He discovered an aptitude for literary and artistic pursuits from an early age, and was soon associated with writing for periodical publications, including Colburn's ''New Monthly'', ''Bentley'', and ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' magazine. He often wrote short tales, songs, children's stories, and occasional burlesques. He could also draw and worked on wood, etchings and caricatures using pen and ink, specialising in anthropomorphic animals, occasionally illustrating stories for his brother Charles Robert Forrester (1803–1850), who wrote under the pseudonym Hal Willis. He also made several popular ceramics of curious flowers and contemporary subjects, including a "Memorial of the Great Exhibition of 1851" and a statuette of Wellington Bear. He illustrated plays for children in

Dean & Son Dean & Son was a 19th-century London publishing firm, best known for making and mass-producing moveable children's books and toy books, established around 1800. Thomas Dean founded the firm, probably in the late 1790s, bringing to it innovative l ...

's series, ''Little Plays for Little People''. In 1854

Julia Corner Julia Corner (1798–1875), also known as Miss Corner, was a British children's educational writer who created ''Miss Corner's Historical Library''. Life Corner was born in London in 1798. Her father, John Corner, was an engraver. She initiall ...

wrote a play for children based around the

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

fairy story which was illustrated by Forrester working under the name of Alfred Crowquill.Beauty and the Beast
Russell A Peck, University of Rochester Forrester's ''Phantasmagoria of Fun'' appeared in two volumes in 1843 under his Alfred Crowquill pseudonym. It contains humorous sketches with an animal theme.''XIX Century Fiction, Part I'' (Jarndyce, Bloomsbury, 2019). His ''Strange Surprising Adventures of the Venerable Gooroo Simple...'', consisting of comic tales set in India, appeared in 1861, again under the pseudonym Alfred Crowquill. Alfred Henry Forrester was buried at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of L ...

, near London.

References

*Obituary: Death of Alfred Crowquill, The Era (London), 2 June 1872

External links

* * *Full color page images o
''Pantomime as it was is and will be by Alfred Crowquill : drawings, undated''
MS Thr 26. Houghton Library, Harvard University *
Alfred Crowquill
(pseudonym) at LC Authorities, with 11 records {{DEFAULTSORT:Forrester, Alfred Henry 1804 births 1872 deaths English writers English illustrators English comics artists Burials at West Norwood Cemetery