John Theodore Eardley Kenney (1911–1972) was an English illustrator who worked on a number of Reverend

Wilbert Awdry Wilbert Vere Awdry (15 June 1911 – 21 March 1997) was an English Anglican minister, railway enthusiast, and children's author. He was best known for creating Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas and several other characters he created appeared in ...

's ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. Twen ...

'' books from 1957 to 1962.

Introduction

Kenney was born in 1911 and trained at the Leicester College of Art, the same school that produced

Clarence Reginald Dalby Clarence Reginald Dalby (1904–1983), born in Leicester, England, was the third illustrator of ''The Railway Series'' by W.V. Awdry and a Royal Air Force intelligence officer during the Second World War. History Dalby was born in Leicester i ...

, the first illustrator of the ''Railway Series''. Upon graduation he was employed by J.E. Slater, a firm of commercial artists located in Leicester. Kenney served with the 44th Searchlight Regiment and the 121st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He landed in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

, and although he was not officially a war artist he recorded the scenes he saw in a number of impromptu drawings. He continued to draw what he saw as his regiment swept across Europe with the rest of the Allied contingent. After the war, he returned to Leicester, resuming work at J.E. Slater. It was at that time that he met his future wife, Peggy. In 1957 Kenney quit his position, choosing to work as a full-time freelance artist. As a full-time artist, Kenney became mentor to Neil Cawthorne. Neil is a well known equestrian artist, painting official pictures for the Grand National steeple chase, and the Prince of Wales, playing polo. Neil started the Society of Equestrian Artists.

Contributions as illustrator

Awdry's choice of Kenney as a replacement for Dalby has been considered a fortuitous one. Kenney brought a lightness of touch and a naturalism to the illustrations that had been previously lacking. In the first book illustrated by Kenney, ''The Eight Famous Engines'', Kenney's superb draftsmanship and his attention to detail are already obvious. Kenney's last illustrations in the ''Railway Series'' were for 1962's ''Gallant Old Engine''. By that time his eyesight was failing and he was unable to handle the fine details required for the series' illustrations. He was replaced by

Peter and Gunvor Edwards Peter Edwards (1934 – 2017) and Gunvor Edwards (1934 – 2014) were two Swedish-English impressionistic artists who illustrated several of ''The Railway Series'' books by the Rev. W. Awdry Wilbert Vere Awdry (15 June 1911 – 21 March 1997) ...

as illustrator for the ''Railway Series''. Before his retirement, Kenney also illustrated 31 children's books for the Leicester publisher

Ladybird Books Ladybird Books is a London-based publishing company, trading as a stand-alone imprint within the Penguin Group of companies. The Ladybird imprint publishes mass-market children's books. It is an imprint of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of ...

, including a series on important British historical figures, such as

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

, and

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

, as well as a 1956 book of motor vehicle characters that has an affinity with the Awdry books he was soon to work on. He also provided art for the ''Hunter Hawk, Skyway Detective'' series. John T. Kenney died in 1972 at the age of 61.

Books

W. Awdry's ''Railway Series'' (published by Edmund Ward)

*''The Eight Famous Engines'' (1957) *''Duck and the Diesel Engine'' (1958) *''The Little Old Engine'' (1959) *''The Twin Engines'' (1960) *''Branch Line Engines'' (1961) *''Gallant Old Engine'' (1962)

Ladybird Books (published by Wills & Hepworth)

*''The Silver Arrow – A Robin Hood Adventure'' (1954) *''The Ambush – A Robin Hood Adventure'' (1955) *''Tootles the Taxi and Other Rhymes'' (1956) *''King Alfred the Great'' (1956) *''William the Conqueror'' (1956) *''The Circus Comes to Town'' (1957) *''Sir Walter Raleigh'' (1957) *''The Story of Nelson'' (1957) *''The Story of the First Queen Elizabeth'' (1958) *''The Story of Captain Cook'' (1958) *''Florence Nightingale'' (1959) *''Julius Caesar and Roman Britain'' (1959) *''The Story of Charles II'' (1960) *''David Livingstone'' (1960) *''Stone Age Man in Britain'' (1961) *''Christopher Columbus'' (1961) *''Marco Polo'' (1962) *''The Story of Henry V'' (1962) *''Oliver Cromwell'' (1963) *''Captain Scott'' (1963) *''Alexander the Great'' (1963) *''Robert the Bruce'' (1964) *''Richard the Lion Heart'' (1965) *''Charles Dickens'' (1965) *''Warwick the Kingmaker'' (1966) *''Cleopatra and Ancient Egypt'' (1966) *''James I and the Gunpowder Plot'' (1967) *''Napoleon'' (1968) *''King John and Magna Carta'' (1969) *''Joan of Arc'' (1971) *''The Pilgrim Fathers'' (1972)

References

External links

Short biography with illustrations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenney, John T. The Railway Series illustrators British illustrators Military personnel from Leicester British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery soldiers 1911 births 1972 deaths People from Leicester People from Leicestershire