Charles Tunnicliffe

Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe
Born	1 December 1901(1901-12-01) Langley, Macclesfield, England
Died	7 February 1979(1979-02-07) (aged 77) Malltraeth, Anglesey, Wales
Awards	Fellow of the Royal Academy RSPB Gold Medal OBE

Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe (1 December 1901 – 7 February 1979)^[1] was an internationally renowned naturalistic painter of British birds and other wildlife. He spent most of his working life on the Isle of Anglesey.

Life

Tunnicliffe was born in 1901 in Langley, Macclesfield, England, and spent his early years living on a farm in nearby Sutton, where he saw much wildlife. As a young boy he attended Sutton St. James’ C.E. Primary School and he went on to win a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London.^[2]

In 1947 he moved from Manchester to a house called "Shorelands" at Malltraeth, on the estuary of the Afon Cefni on Anglesey, where he lived until his death in 1979.

Work

Tunnicliffe worked in several media, including watercolor painting, etching and aquatint, wood engraving, woodcut, scraperboard (sometimes called scratchboard), and oil painting.

A Snowy Owl, Anglesey, date unknown.

Much of Tunnicliffe's work depicted birds in their natural settings and other naturalistic scenes. He illustrated Henry Williamson's Tarka the Otter.^[2] His work was also used to illustrate Brooke Bond tea cards and as a result was seen by millions of young people in the United Kingdom during the 1950s and 1960s. He also illustrated a number of books, including the Ladybird Books. His work was characterised by its precision and accuracy, but also by the way in which he was able to portray birds as they were seen in nature rather than as stiff scientific studies.

​From March 1953, he painted many of the cover illustrations for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds's (RSPB) magazine Bird Notes, and several for the later Birds magazines. Two of the originals are on long-term loan to the gallery at Oriel Ynys Môn, but in 1995 the RSPB sold 114 at a Sotheby's auction, raising £210,000; the most expensive being a picture of a partridge, which sold for £6,440.^[3]

At his death, much of his personal collection of work was bequeathed to Anglesey council on the condition that it was housed together and made available for public viewing. This body of work can now be seen at Oriel Ynys Môn (The Anglesey Gallery) near Llangefni.

His work is still celebrated with the Charles and Winifred Tunnicliffe Memorial Art Competition, which is held annually at Hollinhey Primary School, Sutton, which itself is built on land which was formally part of the farm he lived on as a boy. ^[4]

Honours

• 1944 - Associate of the Royal Academy
• 1954 - Fellow of the Royal Academy
• 1975 - RSPB Gold Medal
• 1978 - OBE^[5]

Tunnicliffe was the subject of a 1981 BBC Wales television documentary, True to Nature, produced by Derek Trimby and narrated by Robert Dougall.^[6][7]

Bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

At least 250 books used Tunnicliffe's illustrations, including:

• 1932 - Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson. Putnam: London.
• 1933 - The Lone Swallows, and other essays of boyhood and youth, by Henry Williamson. Putnam.
• 1933 - The Old Stag and Other Hunting Stories, by Henry Williamson. Putnam.
• 1933 - On Foot in Devon. Or, Guidance and Gossip being a Monologue in Two Reels, by Henry Williamson. Alexander Maclehose & Co: London.
• 1933 - The Star-Born, by Henry Williamson. Faber: London.
• 1934 - Beasts Royal, by Patrick Russ (Patrick O'Brian). Putnam.
• 1934 - The Peregrine's Saga and Other Wild Tales, by Henry Williamson. Putnam.
• 1934 - Tales from Ebony, by Harcourt Williams. Putnam.
• 1936 - Pool and Rapid. The story of a river, by R.L. Haig-Brown. Cape: London.
• 1936 - Salar the Salmon, by Henry Williamson. Faber.
• 1937 - Ambush of Young Days, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1937 - A Book of Birds, by Mary Priestley. Gollancz: London.
• 1937 - The Sky’s Their Highway, by Kenneth Williamson. Putnam.
• 1940 - The Seasons and the Gardener: A Book for Children, by H. E. Bates. CUP.
• 1940 - Wonders of Nature: How Animals and Plants Live and Behave in Relation to Their Natural Surroundings, by C.F. Tunnicliffe. Odham's Press.
• 1941 - Nature Abounding, by E.L. Grant Watson. Faber.
• 1941 - Profitable Wonders: Some Problems of Plant & Animal Life, by E.L. Grant Watson. Country Life: London.
• 1941 - The Seasons and the Fisherman: A Book for Children, by Frank Fraser Darling. CUP.
• 1941 - The Seasons and the Woodman: A Book for Children, by Frank Fraser Darling. CUP.
• 1941 - The Story of a Norfolk Farm, by Henry Williamson. Faber.
• 1942 - In the Heart of the Country, by H.E. Bates. Country Life.
• 1942 - My Country Book, by C.F. Tunnicliffe. The Studio: London.
• 1942 - Going Fishing: The story of some rods and the places they take you to, by Negley Farson. Country Life.
• 1943 - O More Than Happy Countryman, by H.E. Bates. Country Life.
• 1943 - Walking with Fancy, by E.L. Grant Watson. Country Life.
• 1944 - Exploring England: an introduction to nature craft, by Charles S. Bayne. Collins: London.
• 1944 - The Seasons and the Farmer: A Book for Children, by Frank Fraser Darling. CUP.
• 1945 - Bird Portraiture, by C.F. Tunnicliffe. (How to Do It series No.35). The Studio: London.
• 1945 - Call of the Birds, by Charles S. Bayne. Collins. (First published 1929, revised 1945).
• 1945 - Farmer Jim, by D. H. Chapman. George Harrap & Co.
• 1945 - Green Tide, by Richard Church. Country Life.
• 1945 - My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
• 1946 - Country Things, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1946 - Happy Countryman, by C.H. Warren. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
• 1946 - Wandering with Nomad. Thrilling Adventures Among the Wild Life of the Countryside, by Norman Ellison. University of London Press.
• 1947 - Angling Conclusions, by W.F.R. Reynolds. Faber.
• 1947 - How to Draw Farm Animals by C. F. Tunnicliffe. The Studio: London.
• 1947 - The Leaves Return, by E.L. Grant Watson. Country Life.
• 1947 - The Long Flight, by Terence Horsley. Country Life.
• 1947 - Our Bird Book, by Sidney Rogerson. Collins.
• 1947 - Out of Doors with Nomad, by Norman Ellison. University of London Press.
• 1948 - Carts and Candlesticks, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1948 - The Cinnamon Bird, by Ronald Lockley. Staples Press.
• 1948 - Mereside Chronicle: with a short interlude of lochs and lochans, by C.F. Tunnicliffe. Country Life.
• 1948 - Over the hills with Nomad: More Adventures in Search of Our Wild Life, by Norman Frederick Ellison. University of London Press.
• 1949 - Both Sides of the Road. A Book about Farming, by Sidney Rogerson. Collins.
• 1949 - Rivermouth, by Brian Vesey-Fitzgerald. Eyre & Spottiswoode: London.
• 1949 - Roving with Nomad, by Norman Ellison. University of London Press.
• 1949 - Wild Life in a Southern County, by Richard Jefferies. Lutterworth Press.
• 1950 - Adventuring with Nomad, by Norman Ellison. University of London Press.
• 1950 - Island of Skomer, by John Buxton and Ronald Lockley. Staples Press.
• 1951 - Punchbowl Midnight, by Monica Edwards. Collins.
• 1951 - Northwards with Nomad, by Norman Ellison. University of London Press.
• 1952 - Birds of the Estuary, by C.F. Tunnicliffe. Penguin Books.
• 1952 - Plowmen's Clocks, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1952 - Shorelands Summer Diary, by C.F. Tunnicliffe. Macmillan.
• 1952 - Under the Sea Wind - A Naturalist's Picture of Ocean Life, by Rachel Carson. Staples Press: London. (First UK edition).
• 1953 - The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, C.F. Tunnicliffe and Raymond Sheppard. Reprint Society. (First illustrated edition).
• 1953 - Puffins, by Ronald Lockley. Dent: London.
• 1956 - Here's a New Day, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1957 - Come Out Of Doors, by C.D. Dimsdale. Hutchinson: London.
• 1957 - A Year in the Country, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1959 - The Swans fly over, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1959 - What to look for in Winter, by E.L. Grant Watson. (Ladybird Nature Book series 536). Wills & Hepworth: Loughborough.
• 1960 - The Horse in the Furrow, by George Ewart Evans. Faber & Faber.
• 1960 - Something for Nothing: Twelve Essays, by Alison Uttley. Faber & Faber.
• 1960 - What to look for in Autumn, by E.L. Grant Watson. (Ladybird Nature Book series 536). Wills & Hepworth: Loughborough.
• 1960 - What to look for in Summer, by E.L. Grant Watson. (Ladybird Nature Book series 536). Wills & Hepworth: Loughborough.
• 1961 - British Birds of the Wild Places, by J. Wentworth Day. Blandford: London.
• 1961 - What to look for in Spring, by E.L. Grant Watson. (Ladybird Nature Book series 536). Wills & Hepworth: Loughborough.
• 1962 - Wild Honey, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1963 - The Farm, by M.E. Gagg. Wills & Hepworth Ltd.
• 1964 - Cuckoo in June, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1966 - Dawn, Dusk and Deer, by Arthur Cadman. Country Life.
• 1966 - A Peck of Gold, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1967 - A Galloway Childhood, by Ian Niall. Heinemann.
• 1968 - The Button-Box and Other Essays, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1968 - A Fowler's World: an account of days on the marsh and estuary, by Ian Niall. Heinemann.
• 1968 - Know Your Broadleaves, by H.L. Edlin. (Forestry Commission Booklet No 20). HMSO: London.
• 1969 - The Country Child, by Alison Uttley. Penguin Books: Middlesex.
• 1969 - The Island, by Ronald Lockley. André Deutsch.
• 1969 - The Valley, by Elizabeth Clarke. Faber.
• 1972 - Secret Places and other Essays, by Alison Uttley. Faber.
• 1978 - Up with the Country Lark, by Nellie Brocklehurst. Arthur H. Stockwell: Devon. ISBN 0722310978
• 1979 - RSPB Book of Garden Birds, by Linda Bennett. Hamlyn. ISBN 0600314227
• 1979 - A Sketchbook of Birds, by C.F. Tunnicliffe, with an introduction by Ian Niall. Gollancz. ISBN 0575026405
• 1980 - Portrait of a Country Artist. Charles Tunnicliffe R.A. 1901 - 1979, by Ian Niall. Gollancz. ISBN 0575028688
• 1981 - Sketches of Birdlife, with introduction and commentary by Robert Gillmor. Gollancz. ISBN 0575030364
• 1984 - Country World, by Alison Uttley. Faber. ISBN 0571133282
• 1984 - Tunnicliffe's Birds, by C.F. Tunnicliffe. Little Brown: Boston. (First US edition). ISBN 1199078255
• 1986 - The Happy Countryman, by H.E. Bates. Salem House Publishers: USA. ISBN 0948164239
• 1986 - The Peverel Papers. A Yearbook of the Countryside, by Flora Thompson; ed. J. Shuckburgh. Century: London. ISBN 0742612963
• 1986 - Tunnicliffe's Countryside, by C.F. Tunnicliffe. HarperCollins. ISBN 0907745024
• 1992 - Shorelands Winter Diary, by C.F. Tunnicliffe. Constable and Robinson. ISBN 1854871390
• 1993 - The Way of a Countryman, by Ian Niall. White Lion. ISBN 9781874762041
• 1996 - The Peregrine Sketchbook, by C.F. Tunnicliffe, Robert Gillmor, Derek Ratcliffe. Excellent Press. ISBN 9781900318020

References

1. ^ Wildlife Art
2. ^ ^{a b} The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg892 ISBN 9780708319536
3. ^ RSPB Birds magazine, Vol 16 No 01, February–April 1996, page 10
4. ^ Charles and Winifred Tunnicliffe Memorial Art Competition at Hollinhey Primary School
5. ^ The Charles Tunnicliffe Society: A Short Biography
6. ^ Sketches of Birdlife, with introduction and commentary by Robert Gillmor. Gollancz. ISBN 0575030364
7. ^ Bfi page on True to nature

External links

• The Charles Tunnicliffe Society

See also

• List of wildlife artists

Persondata
Name	Tunnicliffe, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 December 1901
Place of birth	Langley, Macclesfield, England
Date of death	7 February 1979
Place of death