Author: Woodward, George Murgatroyd
Biography:
WOODWARD, George Murgatroyd (c. 1765-1809: findmypast.com)
He was buried as George Murgatroyd Woodward, and since his burial record is also the best available clue to his date of birth, that is the name favoured here, but his preferred professional name was G. M. Woodward. His nickname was “Mustard” and the middle M. has been taken as standing for “Moutard” (French for Mustard) at least since 1830 and Angelo’s Reminiscences, but that seems most probably to have started as a joke, perpetuated until it took hold. It is possible that Woodward adopted the middle name or initial simply as a way of setting himself apart from other plain George Woodwards. Tradition says that he was born at Stanton-by-Dale, Derbyshire, the son of William Woodward who was the steward at Stanton Hall. His mother’s name has not been found and no birth record has come to light. (There was however a George Woodward, son of William, baptised at St. John’s, Hackney, London, on 17 May 1757.) Woodward was a gifted caricaturist, his first subjects being local Derbyshire figures. He persuaded his father to provide an allowance and went to try his fortune in London, where his name began appearing on prints in 1785. As a rule he was responsible for designs which were then engraved by more capable artists, such as Rowlandson and Cruikshank. He specialized in coarse “low scenes of humour” (Angelo). From 1807 to 1809 he was the principal illustrator of Tegg’s Caricature Magazine. He was a good writer in a similar satiric vein: four editions of his popular illustrated Eccentric Excursions (1796) appeared by 1800. Other titles include An Olio of Good Breeding (1801) and Attempts at Humour (1803). Never married, he died of “a dropsy” in Nov. 1809. According to GM, it happened at the Brown Bear, a public-house in Bow Street, where the landlord took him in, paid the coachman who had brought him there, called a doctor to attend him, and in the end paid for his funeral. He was buried at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, on 5 Nov., aged 44. (findmypast.com 15 July 2024; ancestry.com 15 July 2024; ODNB 15 July 2024; GM Dec. 1809, 1175; H. Angelo, Reminiscences [1830] 1: 461-3; Derby Daily Telegraph 10 Dec. 1940) HJ
Other Names:
- G. M. Woodward