George Edward Lodge

George Edward Lodge FZS, (3 December 1860; died 5 February 1954)Savory "op. cit."] was a British illustrator of birds and an authority on falconry.

Early life

George Edward Lodge was born at Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. His father, Samuel Lodge (1829-1897), was a Canon of Lincoln Cathedral and rector of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. G E Lodge was the seventh child and fifth son of Samuel Lodge's eleven children.

He was educated at home, and became an accomplished taxidermist. He travelled abroad in search of birds and sport, visiting Norway, Sweden, the West Indies and the United States. He was, however, most at home in the Scottish Highlands.

He attended Lincoln School of Art and studied and worked in LondonFact|date=March 2007 before moving in later life to Camberley, Surrey.

Works

One of the earliest works for which he made illustrations was Lord Lilford’s "Birds of Northamptonshire", in conjunction with Archibald Thorburn, whose skill as a bird-artist Lodge greatly admired. This admiration was returned as in the early 1910s Archibald Thorburn was approached by a representative of the New Zealand Government regarding a commission to provide plates for a proposed book of New Zealand native birds. Thorburn recommended Lodge for the commission and in 1913 Lodge began work. He studied bird skin specimens from a number of different collections in Britain including the Natural History Museum and eventually supplied 90 plates to the Wildlife Service of the Department of Internal Affairs of New Zealand. Due to the illness of the author the proposed book never eventuated and the plates remained with the Department of Internal Affairs until they were transferred to the Dominion Museum in 1948. In 1983 the remaining 89 plates were eventually published in the book "George Edward Lodge: The Unpublished New Zealand Bird Paintings" with text by C.A. Fleming. [Fleming, F.A. "George Edward Lodge: The Unpublished New Zealand Bird Paintings"]

Lodge was also an expert at woodcuts, in which craft he contributed to books by Henry Seebohm and Badminton Library. His illustrations appeared in Beebe’s "Monograph of the Pheasants" and Eliot Howard’s "Introduction to Bird Behaviour" (1929).

He published his only book, "Memoirs of an Artist Naturalist", in 1946, illustrating it with his own pictures. One of his last acts, shortly before his eyesight became impaired, was to institute a trust fund [www.georgeedwardlodgetrust.co.uk] for the publication of original works in natural history: the first publication was "The Birds of the British Isles" by Dr David Bannerman, for which Lodge painted 377 illustrations depicting 435 species.

Conservation

Lodge took an active part in the conservation of wild life. He served for many years on the executive council of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, and was also an active member of the International Committee for Bird Protection. In 1945 he was elected Vice-President of the British Ornithologists' Union, the first artist to be so honoured.

Death & burial

Lodge died in hospital on 5 February 1954 at Frimley, Surrey [ Death announcement in "The Times", Monday 8 February, 1954] and his ashes were interred in the same churchyard as his parents' grave at St Benedict’s, Horncastle, Lincolnshire [ http://www.interment.net/data/eng/lincoln/st_benedict/index.htm Index of gravestones at St Benedict’s churchyard, Horncastle] .

A tribute in "The Times"

The author of his obituary in "The Times" wrote:

"A man of most exceptional charm and distinction, [Lodge] was recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the finest bird-artists this country has ever produced. His wide experience in falconry doubtless gave him special knowledge of the hawk family, for he was a keen falconer from his earliest days. In the painting of birds of prey he had no rival in any country. He was primarily an artist but, being a good naturalist as well, he was able to depict his subjects among their natural surroundings and to make them look alive. " [ Obituary in "The Times", Tuesday 9 February, 1954]

Bibliography

His illustrations were used in books including:
* Baker, E C S (1900) The Indian Doves and Their Allies
* Baker, E C S (1908) Indian Ducks and Their Allies
* Baker, E C S (1921-1930) The Game-Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon
* Bannerman, D A (1930-1951) Birds of Tropical West Africa
* Bannerman, D A and Bannerman, W M (1958) Birds of Cyprus
* Bannerman, D A and Bannerman, W M (1963-1968) Birds of the Atlantic Islands
* Bannerman, D A and Bannerman, W M (1971) Handbook of the Birds of Cyprus and Migrants of the Middle East
* Baxter, E V & Rintoul, L J (1953) The Birds of Scotland
* Beebe, W (1926) Pheasants, their lives and homes
* Chapin, J P (1932-1954) The Birds of the Belgian Congo
* Coombes, R A H (1952) Mountain Birds
* Evans, A H (1899) Birds
* Fleming, C A (1983) George Edward Lodge - The Unpublished New Zealand Bird Paintings
* Hollom, P A D (1960) The Popular Handbook of Rarer British Birds
* Howard, E (1940) A waterhen's worlds
* Howard, E (1948) Territory in bird life
* Hudson, W H (1895) British Birds
* Jackson, F J – (1938) The Birds of Kenya Colony and the Uganda Protectorate
* Lilford (Lord) (1895) Notes on the Birds of Northamptonshire and Neighbourhood
* Lodge, G E (1946) Memoirs of an Artist Naturalist
* Meinertzhagen, R (1930) Nicoll's Birds of Egypt
* Meinertzhagen, R (1954) Birds of Arabia
* Meinertzhagen, R (1959) Pirates and Predators
* Ogilvie-Grant, WE et al (1912) The Gun at Home and Abroad
* Rothschild, L. W. (1907) Extinct Birds
* Savory J (ed) (1986) George Lodge, Artist Naturalist
* Smith, R B (1905) Bird Life and Bird Lore
* Vincent, J (1980) A Season of Birds

Biography

*"George Lodge - Artist Naturalist" John Savory (Ed.), Croom Helm, 1986 ISBN 0-7099-3366-5
*Obituary, J. K. Stanford, in "The Field", 25 February 1954
*Obituary in "The Times" Tuesday 9 February 1954 "(page 9 column 1)"

Notable Relatives

* Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge Physicist
* Sir Richard Lodge Historian
* Eleanor Constance Lodge Historian
* Carron O Lodge Artist
* Francis Graham Lodge Artist

References

External links

* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search.aspx?advanced=colProProductionMakers%3a%22Lodge%2c+George%22 Artworks in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]
* [http://www.anthonywoodd.com/displaybio.php?artid=110 Anthony Woodd Gallery]
* [http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/ "The Times"' archive]
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?search=ss&sText=lodge&LinkID=mp69791&rNo=0&role=sit Photograph of George Edward Lodge at the National Portrait Gallery, London]