Edward Lear

As a child

Edward Lear was born in Highgate, London on 12 May 1812. He was the twentieth child of Jeremiah Lear, a London stockbroker, and his wife Ann. Financial disaster struck the family in 1816 and the Lears had to abandon the fashionable life to which they were accustomed. Edward's upbringing was then entrusted to his sister Ann, twenty-one years his senior, and Mrs Lear had nothing more to do with it. Edward certainly resented his mother's rejection, but found all the love he needed in his sister.

As an adult

An illustrator and painter, Edward Lear was also a great world traveller. In 1846 he even gave drawing lessons to Queen Victoria. Dogged by ill health for much of his life, Edward died in San Remo, on 29th January 1888.

As an artist

In 1846, Edward Lear wrote A Book of Nonsense, a collection of nonsense rhymes, which was published using the pseudonym Derry Down Derry. In the next twenty years, he wrote More Nonsense and Laughable Lyrics, but published them under his own name. In 1867, Edward wrote his first nonsense song, The Owl and the Pussycat, which has been a firm favourite ever since.