View source for W. Heath Robinson

{{short description|British illustrator (1872–1944)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox person
 | name             = W. Heath Robinson
 | image            = W Heath Robinson.jpg
 | image_size       = 
 | caption          = 
 | birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=y|1872|05|31}}
 | birth_place      = [[Hornsey Rise]], [[Middlesex]], England
 | death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=y|1944|09|13|1872|05|13}}
 | death_place      = London, England
 | other_names      = 
 | known_for        = Drawings of odd contraptions
 | occupation       = Illustrator, cartoonist and artist
}}
'''William Heath Robinson''' (31 May 1872&nbsp;– 13 September 1944) was an English [[cartoonist]], illustrator and artist who drew whimsically elaborate machines to achieve simple objectives.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bryant |first=Mark |year=2006 |title=World War I in Cartoons |location=London |publisher=Grub Street |page=17 |isbn=190494356X}}</ref>

The earliest citation in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' for the use of "Heath Robinson" as a noun describing  any unnecessarily complex and implausible contrivance is from 1917.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art |first1=Ian |last1=Chilvers |first2=John |last2=Glaves-Smith |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780199239658 |page=603 |quote=The phrase 'Heath Robinson', used to describe eccentric machinery, had entered the language by the First World War (the earliest citation in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is of 1917).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Heath Robinson |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/heath-robinson_n? |website=Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=27 March 2024}}{{subscription required}}</ref>  The phrase "Heath Robinson contraption" perhaps most commonly describes temporary fixes using ingenuity and whatever is to hand, often string and tape, or unlikely cannibalisations. Its continuing popularity was undoubtedly linked to [[United Kingdom home front during World War II|Britain's shortages during the Second World War]] and the need to [[Make-Do and Mend|"make do and mend"]].

==Early life==
[[File:Robinson(WH)-('Uncle Lubin').jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|An illustration from ''The Adventures of Uncle Lubin'' (1902)]]
William Heath Robinson was born in [[Hornsey Rise]], London, on 31 May 1872<ref>{{cite book |last1=Day |first1=Langston |title=The Life and Art of W. Heath Robinson |date=1976 |publisher=EP Pub |location=Wakefield |isbn=0715811800 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jh9QAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Heath+Robinson%22+%22May+31+,+1872%22 |access-date=27 January 2022}}</ref> into a family of artists in Stroud Green, [[Finsbury Park]], North London. His grandfather Thomas, his father Thomas Robinson (1838–1902) and brothers [[Thomas Heath Robinson]] (1869–1954) and [[Charles Robinson (illustrator)|Charles Robinson]] (1870–1937) all worked as illustrators. His uncle Charles was an illustrator for ''[[The Illustrated London News]]''.<ref name="PAW 1939">{{cite news|last1=Sly |first1=Muriel |title=Men who can make us laugh |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jan-14-1939-3775833/ |access-date=11 March 2023 |newspaper=Perth West Australian |date=14 January 1939 |page=5}}</ref>

==Career ==
His early career involved illustrating books – among others: [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s ''Danish Fairy Tales and Legends'' (1897), ''[[One Thousand and One Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'' (1899), ''[[Tales from Shakespeare]]'' (1902), ''[[Gargantua and Pantagruel]]'' (1904),<ref>''The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais'' published by Grant Richards, London, 1904. Reprinted by The Navarre Society, London, 1921</ref> ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' (1908), ''Andersen's Fairy Tales'' (1913), ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' (1914), Charles Kingsley's ''[[The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby|The Water-Babies]]'' (1915) and [[Walter de la Mare]]'s ''Peacock Pie'' (1916). Robinson was one of the leading illustrators selected by [[Percy Bradshaw]] for inclusion in his ''[[Percy Bradshaw#The art of the illustrator|The Art of the Illustrator]]'' (1917–1918) which presented a separate portfolio for each of twenty illustrators.{{refn|group=note|The portfolio contained: a brief biography of Robinson, an illustration of Robinson at work in his studio, an explanation of Robinson's method of working. This was accompanied by a plate showing an illustration typical of his work and five other plates showing the work at five earlier stages of its production, from the first rough to the just before the finished drawing or colour sketch.{{r|Art-Illustrator-Review}} Robinson's coloured illustration shows a fantasy feast with naked cherubs.{{r|TAOTI-Palace-Robinson}}}}

Robinson served as a consultant at the [[Percy Bradshaw]]'s [[Percy Bradshaw#The Press Art School|The Press Art School]], a school teaching painting, drawing, and illustration by correspondence. The consultants commented on the work submitted by the students.{{r|Bryant-2018|p=32}} In the course of his work, Robinson 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]]s, depicting ever-more-unlikely secret weapons being used by the combatants, and the American Expeditionary Force in France.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bryant |first=Mark |year=2006 |title=World War I in Cartoons |location=London |publisher=Grub Street |pages=9, 17 |isbn=190494356X}}</ref> 

After the war, his work was included in the [[Art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics#Painting|painting event]] in the [[Art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics|art competition]] at the [[1932 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/920534 |title=W. Heath Robinson |work=Olympedia |access-date=4 August 2020}}</ref>
[[File:William Heath Robinson Inventions - Page 034.png|thumb|right|''Testing Golf Drivers'', a typical "Heath Robinson contraption".]]

As well as producing 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]] Chair. A simple apparatus for removing a wart from the top of the head"
*"Resuscitating stale [[Big Four (British railway companies)|railway]] [[scone]]s for redistribution at the station buffets"
*"The multimovement [[Tabby cat|tabby]] 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]] (GWR) 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 GWR) 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]]s or kettles, heated by [[candle]]s or a spirit lamp and usually kept running by balding, bespectacled men in overalls. There would be complex [[pulley]] 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 ''[[Rube Goldberg machine|Rube Goldberg]]'', 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 [[Robert Storm Petersen|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]]'' book written by [[Norman Hunter (author)|Norman Hunter]]. The stories told of the eponymous professor who was brilliant, eccentric and forgetful and provided a perfect backdrop for Robinson's drawings.
[[File:"Fairyland on China" design.jpg|thumb|Robinson motifs on "Fairyland on China" nursery jug for Midwinter Pottery, c.1928]]
Around 1928,<ref>Midwinter pieces with the "Fairyland on China" designs bear a mark with the registered number "732612". This suggests that the surface decoration was registered in the UK during 1928, and that Robinson probably created the designs in that year.</ref> Robinson was commissioned to design a range of nursery ware for [[Midwinter Pottery|W.R. Midwinter]], a [[Staffordshire]] pottery firm. Scenes from sixteen [[nursery rhyme]]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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Peat|first=Alan|title=Midwinter, A Collectors' Guide|publisher=Cameron & Hollis|year=1992|isbn=0-906506-06-9|location=Moffat|pages=6–8}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22713/lot/165/|title = Bonhams : ROBINSON (WILLIAM HEATH) an archive of original illustrations, proofs and dust-jacket artwork for the 1944 publication Once Upon a Time by Lilian M. Clopet and three autograph letters signed ("W. Heath Robinson") 25, Southwood Avenue, Highgate, N.6., 25 September 1943, 3 January 1944 and 9 August 1944 |publisher=Bonhams |access-date=20 August 2023 |date=2015}}</ref>

One of the automatic analysis machines built for [[Bletchley Park]] during the Second World War to assist in the decryption of German message traffic was named "[[Heath Robinson (codebreaking machine)|Heath Robinson]]" in his honour. It was a direct predecessor to the [[Colossus computer|Colossus]], the world's first programmable digital electronic computer.

==Personal life ==
In 1903 he married Josephine Latey, the daughter of newspaper editor [[John Latey (journalist)|John Latey]].<ref>[http://www.brinsmead.net/HeathRob.htm The Heath Robinson Connection<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.brinsmead.net</ref> In 1908 the Robinsons moved to [[Pinner]], Middlesex where they had two children, Joan and Oliver. His house in Moss Lane is commemorated by a [[blue plaque]].<ref>{{cite web|title=W. Heath Robinson blue plaque at 75 Moss Lane, Pinner, London|url=http://www.blueplaqueplaces.co.uk/w-heath-robinson-blue-plaque-in-london-632|access-date=9 January 2017}}</ref>

In 1918 the Heath Robinsons moved to [[Cranleigh]], Surrey where their daughter attended [[St Catherine's School, Bramley]] and their son attended [[Cranleigh School]]. Heath Robinson drew designs and illustrations for local institutions and schools. Heath Robinson was too old to enlist for WW1; he took on two German POWs to garden after the Armistice. In 1929 the Heath Robinsons returned to London where his two children were now working.<ref>Georgina Townshend in Surrey Advertiser 2016-01-08, ''Booklet explores artists life and time in Cranleigh''</ref><ref>Jenny Overton, ''W Heath Robinson in Cranleigh 1918-1929'', booklet on local sale.</ref>

==Death and legacy ==
He died in September 1944, during the Second World War, and is buried in [[East Finchley Cemetery]].

The [[Heath Robinson Museum]] 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, [[Pinner]], close to where the artist lived and worked.

==In popular culture==
[[File:Heath Robinson WWI.png|thumb|upright=1.0|A World War I cartoon by W. Heath Robinson]]
[[File:Kipling - Song of the English, 1914 - 3492116 F.jpg|thumb|Title page of ''A Song of the English'' by [[Rudyard Kipling]], illustrated by W. Heath Robinson, c. 1914 (reprint)]]

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.<ref>[http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hea4.htm World Wide Words: Heath Robinson]</ref>

The spotting table used by the Royal Observer Corps during the Battle of Britain to determine the bearing and altitude of an incoming German raid before calling it in to the sector plotting room was known, affectionately, as "the Heath Robinson."<ref>Wood, Derek, and Dempster, Derek. The Narrow Margin (London, UK; McGraw Hill Book Company), 1961, Page 150.)</ref>

In the ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' films, Wallace often invents Heath Robinson-like machines, with some inventions being direct references.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Solon |first=Olivia |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/heath-robinson-deserves-a-museum |title= William Heath Robinson museum finally opens this weekend. Who is the man behind the legend?|magazine= Wired| access-date=20 May 2017 |quote=In fact, the parallels between Aardman's 'cracking contraptions' and Heath Robinson's are, on occasions, startling. The Wallace-Gromit household borrows heavily from a full-scale model of a contraption-filled house entitled 'The Gadget Family', designed and built for the Ideal Home Show in 1934 – there are even trapdoors delivering the family to the breakfast table.}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.economist.com/1843/2019/01/08/absurdity-and-wonder-heath-robinson-at-home |title=Absurdity and wonder: Heath Robinson at home |last=Bennun |first=David |magazine=The Economist |date=8 January 2019 |access-date=20 August 2023 |quote=The creators of the 'Wallace and Gromit' films have acknowledged that many of Wallace's inventions owe a great debt to those of Heath Robinson.}}</ref>

During the [[Falklands War]] (1982), British [[Harrier Jump Jet|Harrier]] aircraft lacked their conventional "[[chaff (countermeasure)|chaff]]"-dispensing mechanism.<ref name="isbn0-304-35542-9">{{cite book|first=Sharkey |last=Ward |title=Sea Harrier Over the Falklands (Cassell Military Paperbacks) |year=2000 |publisher=Sterling Publishing Company |page=245 |isbn=0-304-35542-9}}</ref> Therefore, [[Royal Navy]] engineers designed an impromptu delivery system of welding rods, split pins and string which allowed six packets of chaff to be stored in the [[Air brake (aeronautics)|speedbrake]] well and deployed in flight. Due to its improvised and ramshackle nature it was often referred to as the "Heath Robinson chaff modification".<ref name="isbn0-297-84645-0">{{cite book |author=Morgan, David L. |title=Hostile Skies: My Falklands Air War |year=2006 |publisher=Orion Publishing |location=London |pages=59, 73 and photo section |isbn=0-297-84645-0}}</ref>

==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
*Kipling, Rudyard, ''A Song of the English'', illustrated by W. Heath Robinson, London: Hodder & Stoughton. 1909
*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. [Private Printing] 1921
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''Peter Quip in Search of a Friend'', Partridge 1921
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''Humours of Golf'', Methuen. 1923, [Duckworth. 1973, {{ISBN|978-0-7156-0915-6}}]
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''Heath Robinson's Book of Goblins'', Hutchinson & Co, London, 1934
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''Absurdities: A Book of Collected Drawings'', Hutchinson. 1934, [Duckworth. 1975, {{ISBN|978-0-7156-0920-0}}]
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''Railway Ribaldry'', Great Western Railway, 1935
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''Railway Ribaldry'', Duckworth. 1935, [Duckworth. 1997, {{ISBN|978-0-7156-0823-4}}]
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''How to Live in Flat'', Hutchinson. 1936, [Duckworth. 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, ''How to Make the Best of Things'' Hutchinson & Co London 1941
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''How to Build a New World'' Hutchinson & Co, London 1943
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''How to Run a Communal Home'' Hutchinson & Co London 1944
*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, {{ISBN|978-0-7156-0724-4}}
*De Freitas, Leo John, ''The Fantastic Paintings of Charles and William Heath Robinson'', Peacock/Bantam. 1976
*Robinson, W. Heath, ''Devices'', Duckworth. 1977, {{ISBN|978-0-7156-1268-2}}
*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
*[[Adam Hart-Davis|Hart-Davis, Adam]], ''Very Heath Robinson'', Sheldrake Press. 2017

== See also ==
{{Portal |Children's literature |Visual arts}}
* [[Norman Hunter (author)]]
* [[Professor Branestawm]]
* [[Rube Goldberg]], American artist with similar cartoon inventions
* [[Robert Storm Petersen|Storm P.]], Danish artist with similar cartoon inventions
* [[Rowland Emett]], British cartoonist with similar physical inventions

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==

{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=Art-Illustrator-Review>{{cite journal 
|title=The Connisseur Bookself 
|journal=[[The Connoisseur (magazine)|The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors]] 
|volume=51 
|issue=204 
|pages=223 
|date=1918-08-01 
|url=https://archive.org/details/connoisseur51londuoft 
|access-date=2020-08-12 
|via=The [[Internet Archive]] 
|url-access=registration  }}</ref>
<ref name=TAOTI-Palace-Robinson>{{cite web 
|title=William Heath Robinson: William Heath Robinson and His Work: The Art of the Illustrator (Limited Edition Prints) 
|website=Illustration Art Gallery with The Book Palace 
|url=https://bookpalace.com/acatalog/info_RobinsonWH5.html 
|access-date=2020-08-22 }}</ref>
<ref name=Bryant-2018>{{cite book 
|last1=Bryant 
|first1=Mark 
|title=Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Cartoonists and Caricaturists 
|date=2018 
|publisher=Routledge 
|location=London }}</ref>

}}

*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/robinson_william_heath.shtml Historic Figures] at the BBC web site. Retrieved May 2007

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikisource author}}
* [http://www.heathrobinson.org The William Heath Robinson Trust]
* [http://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/ The Heath Robinson Museum]
* [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/heathrobinson Heath Robinson exhibition] at the [[Walker Art Gallery]], Liverpool, 2004
* [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/illustrators/whrobinson.html SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: Fairy Tale Illustrations of William Heath Robinson]
* [http://www.nocloo.com/w-heath-robinson-andersens-fairy-tales-1913/ W. H. Robinson's illustrations for Andersen's Fairy Tales (1913)] and [https://www.nocloo.com/w-heath-robinson-book-of-goblins-1934/ Heath Robinson's Book of Goblins] (Golden Age Children's Book Illustrators Gallery)
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20000824154925/http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/whrobin.htm Tribute from JVJ Publishing site]}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=34723}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=("W. Heath Robinson" OR "William Heath Robinson" OR "Robinson, W. Heath" OR "Robinson, William Heath")}}

{{Authority control}}

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