Howard Dudley

Born in 1820, he was an English author and wood-engraver from a Quaker family. Sources indicate that he spent his early years in London, and after his father's death in 1827 the family moved to Easebourne in Sussex, where his interest in engraving took shape.

He showed unusual promise very young. The British Travel Writing database records that Juvenile Researches appeared in 1835 and described it as a book composed and printed by a boy of 14, with numerous wood engravings executed by him; that early achievement helps explain why he later became known for both writing and illustration.

His career is remembered for combining literary and visual craft, especially in topographical and historical works. He married Jane Ellen Young in Edinburgh in 1849, later returned to London, and died in 1864 of consumption, still relatively young and without children.