Lilian Lancaster - Wales - 1868

by Vintage Map

Title

Lilian Lancaster - Wales - 1868

Artist

Vintage Map

Medium

Digital Art - Printed Map

Description

First published in "Geographical Fun, Humorous Outlines of Various Countries" by Hodder & Stoughton in London in 1868, the map of Wales here becomes synonymous with one of the Principality's most celebrated national heroes, the medieval Welsh Prince, Owen Glendower or Glendowr [c.1359-1415], the last native-born Welshman to bear the title of Prince of Wales. Glendower headed a bloody revolt against the English control of Wales during the reigns of King Henry IV & Henry V in the early 15th Century. This map was one of a series of twelve depicting different countries & regions of Europe originally designed by the latented Victorian teenage artist, Eliza Jane Lancaster [1852-1939]. They were conceived as a distraction to entertain her younger brother during a protracted bout of illness at home.The accompanying rhyming verses were composed by the London journalist, William Harvey [1796-1873], who worked under the pen name "Aleph". Eliza Jane subsequently became a popular British actress & comedienne, taking the stage name Lilian Lancaster. A pantomimne artiste on the British provincial stage during the 1870s & early 1880s, she even toured the United States with George Conquest's "Grim Goblin" Pantomime Company in 1880-1. It was here, at New York's Wallack's Theater, that she wowed American audiences with performances of the then popular comic song, "Lardy Dah! Lardy Dah!" during the all too brief, accident-prone run of Conquest's pantomime. After marrying a wealthy Yorkshire landowner in 1884, Lilian left the stage and retired to the country & a life of relative obscurity. Following her husband's early death in 1897 she became active again as a comic mapmaker & cartoonist. In 1912 she designed a series of charming pictorial maps to illustrate E L Hoskyn's popular children's book, a compilation of traditional folk tales & legends, entitled "Stories of Old". Lilian Lancaster died in London in August 1939.

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April 1st, 2020

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