Tom Riley (1870-?) was a prominent
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
tattoo artist in the late 19th century and early 20th century, nicknamed "Professor".
Riley's work, alongside rivals
Alfred South and
Sutherland MacDonald, was part of establishing an English style of tattooing.
Early life and military service
Riley was born Thomas Clarkson in 1870,
from
Leeds, Yorkshire
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
. He was apprenticed as a bricklayer but chose not to pursue that profession.
Riley enlisted in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
in 1889; while in the army, he learned tattooing and worked on many other soldiers and officers.
Riley also fought in the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
between 1899-1902 and in
Sudan.
Career
Riley took drawing classes at a
mechanics' institute in Leeds and opened a tattoo shop in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
near the docks.
He then went to
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
and built a reputation there, was invited to tattoo at the
Royal Aquarium
The Royal Aquarium and Winter Garden was a place of amusement in Westminster, London. It opened in 1876, and the building was demolished in 1903. The attraction was located northwest of Westminster Abbey on Tothill Street. The building was design ...
in London, then opened his own shop on the
Strand
Strand may refer to:
Topography
*The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a:
** Beach
** Shoreline
* Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida
Places Africa
* Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa
* Strand Street ...
in London.
Riley tattooed King
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...
.
Riley's style was fine-lined and influenced by
Japanese tattoo designs.
Patents
Some sources credit Riley with patenting the first single-coil
tattoo machine
A tattoo machine is a hand-held device generally used to create a tattoo, a permanent marking of the skin with indelible ink. Modern tattoo machines use electromagnetic coils to move an armature bar up and down. Connected to the armature bar is a ...
in 1891, soon after
Samuel O'Reilly
Samuel F. O’Reilly (May 1854 - 29 April 1909) was an American tattoo artist from New York, who patented the first electric tattoo machine on December 8, 1891.
Biography
O’Reilly was born in Waterbury, New Haven County, Connecticut to Iri ...
received an American patent for the first electric tattoo machine.
In 1903, an interviewer noted that Riley was using a single-coil tattoo machine and said that Riley had co-invented it with O'Reilly, however a tattoo historian could not find any records of a British patent by Riley.
Burchett had said that Riley had received a British patent for a tattoo machine in December 1891, improving on Samuel O'Reilly's design.
Burchett may have been misremembering Sutherland MacDonald's work, who received the first British tattoo machine patent in December 1894.
See also
*
George Burchett
George "Professor" Burchett (23 August 1872 – 3 April 1953) was an English tattoo artist known as the "King of Tattooists".
Profile
Burchett was born George Burchett-Davis on 23 August 1872 in the English seaside town of Brighton, East Suss ...
References
British Army personnel of the Mahdist War
British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
British tattoo artists
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