Samuel Begg was born at 31 Mecklenburgh Square, London, on 19 March 1854, the fourth of nine children of the Grenada-born merchant, Samuel Begg, and his Irish-born wife, Agnes (née Wilson). He was baptised at the National Scotch Church, Regent Square, on 28 May.
Early in 1860, the five-year-old Samuel Begg migrated with his family to Napier on New Zealand’s North Island. His father established himself as a shipping agent and built a wooden house for the family on the hill above Napier, calling it ‘Prospect’. Samuel was educated at Napier Grammar School, from which he graduated in 1868, with prizes in French and Drawing.
Soon after, he left home to work as a surveyor on new settlements and the future railway line between Napier and the capital, Wellington.
In the early 1870s, Samuel Begg decided that he wanted to be an artist, and so moved to the South Island, settling in Auckland. There it was probably his brother-in-law, David McFarlane, an amateur artist, who introduced him to staff in the lithographic and printing department of the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Weekly News. In 1877, the Herald published a supplement containing Begg’s panoramic view of Auckland surrounded by other scenes of the area (based on his own watercolour landscapes). While living in the city, he also began his own short-lived paper, the Auckland Graphic.
Late in the 1870s, Begg moved to Australia, and initially settled in Sydney. There he worked for the firm of printers and engravers, Gibbs, Shallard & Co, on projects that included the design of the medal awarded at the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879. He also worked on a freelance basis with his English colleague, the wood-engraver, Appleton, in order to contribute illustrations to Melbourne’s The Illustrated Australian News (1878) and Sydney’s Town and Country Journal (1879-80). Following Appleton’s return to England, Begg helped found the Sydney Bulletin, in 1880, and contributed cartoons to it. However, in 1881, when the Bulletin seemed likely to fail financially, he moved to Melbourne, to work for The Illustrated Australian News and to study at the School of Design attached to the National Gallery of Victoria.
In 1883, Begg left Australia for Europe, and settled in Paris in order to further his studies at the Académie Julian. Though records indicate that he continued at Julian’s until 1889, he seems to have done so while simultaneously establishing himself in London. While living at 68a Chalk Farm Road in the years 1886-87, he began to contribute to The Illustrated London News, and exhibited two drawings or paintings of atelier interiors at the Royal Academy of Arts. In 1891, while lodging with the Stein family at ‘Roseneath’, 4 Cathnor Road, Hammersmith, he exhibited a third work at the RA – a drawing showing the finish of the Melbourne Cup.
In about 1892, Begg returned to New Zealand, making some drawings en route that were later published in The Pictorial World, his main source of income at the time. It has been suggested that he met his future wife during the voyage. In any event, he married Ada Nelson, known as Angie, the daughter of a civil servant, in Hastings on 26 April 1893, and in the following year she gave birth to their daughter, Mary. By 1901, they were living at 23 Fairfax Road, Bedford Park. He was a member of the Savage Club, and enjoyed landscape painting as well as golf.
During the 1890s, Begg contributed to Black and White (1892), Cassell’s Family Magazine (1895-96) and The Sporting and Dramatic News (1896), and, most importantly, joined the staff of The Illustrated London News in 1895. In that position, he developed as a specialist in military, sporting and theatrical subjects, and as a special artist made several trips abroad. He accompanied the Prince and Princess of Wales during their tour through India, in 1905-6, and was present at both the wedding of Queen Victoria Eugenie in Madrid, in 1906, and the funeral of King Carlos in Lisbon, in 1908. In 1912, he extended a working trip to India so that he could make a return visit to New Zealand, possibly in the company of his daughter, Mary. He retired from The Illustrated London News in 1919, having latterly provided images of the First World War.
In 1914, Begg’s daughter, Mary, married Colin Rowntree, an architect related to the famous chocolate manufacturers. In 1925, the Rowntrees moved from Chiswick to Yorkshire, and they were soon joined by Samuel and Angie Begg. From 1927, 191 they all lived at 17 Stonegate, York. Angie died in 1934, and Samuel two years later, on 7 January 1936.
His work is represented in the collections of the V&A.
Further reading:
Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, ‘What we know about Samuel Begg’, douglaslloydjenkins.wordpress.com, 2014
