chambers_search-1

Search Chambers

Consult Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, The Chambers Thesaurus (1996) or Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1997 edition with amendments). Enter your search and choose your title from the drop-down menu.

Leech, John 1817-64
English caricaturist

Born in London of Irish descent, he was educated at Charterhouse with Thackeray (with whom he had a lifelong friendship) and then studied medicine, but turned to art after publishing, at the age of 18, Etchings and Sketchings, by A. Pen, Esq. (1835). From 1841 he contributed hundreds of sketches of middle-class life and political cartoons to Punch, and also woodcuts to the Illustrated London News (1856) and Once a Week (1859-62). He illustrated several books, including Dickens's Christmas Carol and the sporting novels of Robert Smith Surtees. He also drew several lithographed series, particularly Portraits of the Children of the Mobility (1841). He was buried close to Thackeray at Kensal Green in London.