William Heath Robinson (31 May 1872 – 13 September 1944) was an English

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

, illustrator and artist, best known for drawings of whimsically elaborate machines to achieve simple objectives. In the UK, the term "Heath Robinson contraption" gained dictionary recognition around 1912.History – Historic Figures: William Heath Robinson (1872–1944)
. BBC. Retrieved on 2011-05-06. It became part of popular language during the 1914–1918

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contrivance. Other cartoonists drew on similar themes; by 1928 the American

Rube Goldberg Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), known best as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadge ...

was known for "

Rube Goldberg machine A Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a chain reaction-type machine or contraption intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and (impractically) overly complicated way. Usually, these mach ...

s" in the United States. A "Heath Robinson contraption" is perhaps most commonly used in relation to temporary fixes using ingenuity and whatever is to hand, often string and tape, or unlikely cannibalisations. Its continuing popularity was undoubtedly linked to Britain's shortages and the need to "make do and mend" during the Second World War.

Early life

William Heath Robinson was born in

Hornsey Rise Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to th ...

, London, on 31 May 1872 into a family of artists in Stroud Green,

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

, North London. His father Thomas Robinson (1838–1902) and brothers

Thomas Heath Robinson T. Heath Robinson (1869–1954) was an English illustrator of books and magazines, in both line drawings and full color. He illustrated many books for Allen, Nisbit, Dent, Sands and others as well as illustrations for magazines, including C ...

(1869–1954) and Charles Robinson (1870–1937) all worked as illustrators.

Career

His early career involved illustrating books – among others:

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consist ...

's ''Danish Fairy Tales and Legends'' (1897), ''

The Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

'' (1899), '' Tales from Shakespeare'' (1902), ''

Gargantua and Pantagruel ''The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel'' (french: La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, telling the adventures of two giants, Gargantua ( , ) and his son Pantagruel ...

'' (1904), ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...

'' (1908), ''Andersen's Fairy Tales'' (1913), ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...

'' (1914), Charles Kingsley's '' The Water-Babies'' (1915) and

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...

's ''Peacock Pie'' (1916). Robinson was one of the leading illustrators selected by

Percy Bradshaw Percy Venner Bradshaw (27 November 1877 – 13 October 1965), who often signed PVB, was a British illustrator who also created the Press Art School, a correspondence course for drawing. Biography Percy Bradshaw was born in Hackney, part of Lo ...

for inclusion in his '' The Art of the Illustrator'' (1917-1918) which presented a separate portfolio for each of twenty illustrators. Robinson also served as a consultant at the

's The Press Art School, a school teaching painting, drawing, and illustration by correspondence. The consultants commented on the work submitted by the students. In the course of his work, Robinson also wrote and illustrated three children's books, ''The Adventures of Uncle Lubin'' (1902), '' Bill the Minder'' (1912) and ''Peter Quip in Search of a Friend'' (1922). ''Uncle Lubin'' is regarded as the start of his career in the depiction of unlikely machines. During the First World War, he drew large numbers of

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

s, depicting ever-more-unlikely secret weapons being used by the combatants. He also depicted the American Expeditionary Force in France. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

William Heath Robinson Inventions - Page 034

He also produced a steady stream of humorous drawings for magazines and advertisements. In 1934 he published a collection of his favourites as ''Absurdities'', such as: *"The

Wart Warts are typically small, rough, hard growths that are similar in color to the rest of the skin. They typically do not result in other symptoms, except when on the bottom of the feet, where they may be painful. While they usually occur on the ...

Chair. A simple apparatus for removing a wart from the top of the head" *"Resuscitating stale

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

scone A scone is a baked good, usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component ...

s for redistribution at the station buffets" *"The multimovement

tabby A tabby is any domestic cat (''Felis catus'') with a distinctive 'M'-shaped marking on its forehead; stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, and around its legs and tail; and (differing by tabby type), characteristic striped, d ...

silencer", which automatically threw water at serenading cats Most of his cartoons have since been reprinted many times in multiple collections. In 1935 the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

commissioned him to create a set of cartoons on the theme of the GWR itself, which they then published as ''Railway Ribaldry''. The Foreword (by 'G.W.R') notes that the cartoonist was given a free hand to re-imagine the history of the line for the amusement of its customers. The result is a 96-page softback book with alternating full-page cartoons and smaller vignettes, all on pertinent subjects. The machines he drew were frequently powered by steam

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central ...

s or kettles, heated by

candle A candle is an ignitable wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. A person who makes candle ...

s or a spirit lamp and usually kept running by balding, bespectacled men in overalls. There would be complex

pulley A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that ...

arrangements, threaded by lengths of knotted string. Robinson's cartoons were so popular that in Britain the term "Heath Robinson" is used to refer to an improbable, rickety machine barely kept going by incessant tinkering. (The corresponding term in the U.S. is ''

'', after the American cartoonist born just over a decade later, with an equal devotion to odd machinery. Similar "inventions" have been drawn by cartoonists in many countries, with the Danish Storm Petersen being on par with Robinson and Goldberg.) One of his most famous series of illustrations was that which accompanied the first ''

Professor Branestawm ''Professor Branestawm'' is a series of thirteen children's books written by the English author Norman Hunter. Professor Theophilus Branestawm is depicted throughout the books as the archetypal absent-minded professor and his name is a variant o ...

'' book written by Norman Hunter. The stories told of the eponymous professor who was brilliant, eccentric and forgetful and provided a perfect backdrop for Robinson's drawings. In around 1928 Robinson was commissioned to design a range of nursery ware for W.R. Midwinter, a

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

pottery firm. Scenes from sixteen

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From ...

s (some illustrated with more than one vignette) were printed on ware ranging from eggcups to biscuit barrels, each with a decorative border of characterful children's faces. Titled "Fairyland on China", the range was favourably reviewed in the trade press. The last project Robinson worked on shortly before he died was illustrations for Lilian M. Clopet's short story collection ''Once Upon a Time'', which was published in 1944. One of the automatic analysis machines built for

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

during the Second World War to assist in the decryption of German message traffic was named "

Heath Robinson William Heath Robinson (31 May 1872 – 13 September 1944) was an English cartoonist, illustrator and artist, best known for drawings of whimsically elaborate machines to achieve simple objectives. In the UK, the term "Heath Robinson contr ...

" in his honour. It was a direct predecessor to the

Colossus Colossus, Colossos, or the plural Colossi or Colossuses, may refer to: Statues * Any exceptionally large statue ** List of tallest statues ** :Colossal statues * ''Colossus of Barletta'', a bronze statue of an unidentified Roman emperor * ''Col ...

, the world's first programmable digital electronic computer.

Personal life

In 1903 he married Josephine Latey, the daughter of newspaper editor John Latey. Heath Robinson moved to

Pinner Pinner is a London suburb in the London borough of Harrow, Greater London, England, northwest of Charing Cross, close to the border with Hillingdon, historically in the county of Middlesex. The population was 31,130 in 2011. Originally a med ...

, Middlesex, in 1908. They had two children, Joan and Oliver. His house in Moss Lane is commemorated by a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term ...

. In 1918 the Heath Robinsons moved to

Cranleigh Cranleigh is a village and civil parish, about southeast of Guildford in Surrey, England. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the m ...

, Surrey where their daughter attended

St Catherine's School, Bramley St Catherine's School is an independent girls' school in the village of Bramley, near Guildford, Surrey, England. The school is divided into a senior school, for ages 11–18, and a preparatory school for girls aged 4–11. History St Cat ...

and their son attended

Cranleigh School Cranleigh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey. History It was opened on 29 September 1865 as a boys' school 'to provide a sound and plain education, on the principles o ...

. Heath Robinson drew designs and illustrations for local institutions and schools. Heath Robinson was too old to enlist for WW1, but took on two German POWs to garden, post the Armistice. In 1929 the Heath Robinsons returned to London where his two children were now working.

Death and legacy

He died in September 1944, during the Second World War, and is buried in

East Finchley Cemetery East Finchley Cemetery is a cemetery and crematorium in East End Road, East Finchley. Although it is in the London Borough of Barnet, it is owned and managed by the City of Westminster.Heath Robinson Museum The Heath Robinson Museum is a museum in Pinner, London, dedicated to showcasing the work of the world-renowned artist, illustrator, humorist and social commentator William Heath Robinson (1872–1944). The museum was declared officially open by ...

opened in October 2016 to house a collection of nearly 1,000 original artworks owned by The William Heath Robinson Trust. The museum is in Memorial Park,

, close to where the artist lived and worked.

In popular culture

Kipling - Song of the English, 1914 - 3492116 F

The name "Heath Robinson" became part of common parlance in the UK for complex inventions that achieved absurdly simple results following its use as services slang during the 1914–1918 First World War. In the ''

Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series ce ...

'' films, Wallace often invents Heath Robinson-like machines, with some inventions being direct references. During the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...

(1982), British Harrier aircraft lacked their conventional "

chaff Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...

"-dispensing mechanism. Therefore,

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

engineers designed an impromptu delivery system of welding rods, split pins and string which allowed six packets of chaff to be stored in the

speedbrake In aeronautics, air brakes or speed brakes are a type of flight control surface used on an aircraft to increase the drag on the aircraft. Air brakes differ from spoilers in that air brakes are designed to increase drag while making litt ...

well and deployed in flight. Due to its improvised and ramshackle nature it was often referred to as the "Heath Robinson chaff modification".

Publications

*Patterson, R.F., illustrated by W. Heath Robinson, ''Mein Rant: A Summary in Light Verse of Mein Kampf''. 1940 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Works of Edgar Allan Poe'', Bell. 1900 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Uncle Lubin'', Richards. 1902 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Adventures of Don Quixote'', J.M. Dent. 1902 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Bill the Minder'', Constable & Co., London, 1912 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Some "Frightful" War Pictures'', Duckworth. 1915 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Hunlikely!'', Duckworth. 1916 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''The Saintly Hun: a book of German virtues'', Duckworth. 1917 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Flypapers'', Duckworth. 1919 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''The Rabelais'', Rabelais. rivate Printing1921 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Peter Quip in Search of a Friend'', Partridge 1921 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Humours of Golf'', Methuen. 1923, uckworth. 1973, *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Heath Robinson's Book of Goblins'', Hutchinson & Co, London, 1934 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Absurdities: A Book of Collected Drawings'', Hutchinson. 1934, uckworth. 1975, *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Railway Ribaldry'', Great Western Railway, 1935 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Railway Ribaldry'', Duckworth. 1935, uckworth. 1997, *Robinson, W. Heath, ''How to Live in Flat'', Hutchinson. 1936, uckworth. 1976* Robinson, W. Heath, ''How to be a Perfect Husband'', Hutchinson & Co, London, 1937 * Robinson, W. Heath, ''How to Make a Garden Grow'', Hutchinson & Co, London, 1938 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''How to be a Motorist'', Hutchinson & Co, London 1939 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''My Line of Life'', Blackie & Sons. 1938 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Let's Laugh: A Book of Humorous Inventions'', Hutchinson. 1939 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Heath Robinson at War'', Methuen. 1942 *Clopet, Lilian M., illustrated by W. Heath Robinson, ''Once Upon a Time''. 1944 *Lewis, John. ''Heath Robinson Artist and Comic Genius'', Barnes and Noble. 1973 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Inventions'', Duckworth. 1973, *De Freitas, Leo John, ''The Fantastic Paintings of Charles and William Heath Robinson'', Peacock/Bantam. 1976 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Devices'', Duckworth. 1977, *Beare, Geoffrey. ''The Illustrations of W. Heath Robinson'', Werner Shaw. 1983 *Beare, Geoffrey. ''W. Heath Robinson'', Chris Beetles. 1987 *Hamilton, James, ''William °Heath Robinson'', Pavilion. 1992 *Beare, Geoffrey, ''The Brothers Robinson'', Chris Beetles. 1992 *Beare, Geoffrey, ''The Art of William Heath Robinson'', Dulwich Picture Gallery. 2003 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Contraptions'', Duckworth. 2007 *Robinson, W. Heath, ''Britain at Play'', Duckworth. 2008 *Beare, Geoffrey, ''Heath Robinson's Commercial Art'', Lund Humphries, 2017 * Hart-Davis, Adam, ''Very Heath Robinson'', Sheldrake Press. 2017

Notes

References

Historic Figures
at the BBC web site. Retrieved May 2007

External links

The William Heath Robinson Trust

The Heath Robinson Museum

Heath Robinson exhibition
at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

, Liverpool, 2004
SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: Fairy Tale Illustrations of William Heath Robinson

W. H. Robinson's illustrations for Andersen's Fairy Tales (1913)
an
Heath Robinson's Book of Goblins
(Golden Age Children's Book Illustrators Gallery)

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, W. Heath 1872 births 1944 deaths English cartoonists English illustrators People from Islington (district) People from Pinner 19th-century illustrators of fairy tales 20th-century illustrators of fairy tales Burials at East Finchley Cemetery The New Yorker cartoonists Olympic competitors in art competitions People educated at Islington Proprietary School