Harry Rountree

1880 - 1950

Harry Rountree was known as an English illustrator, animal painter and lithographer, however he was actually born in Auckland, New Zealand. He began working for Wilson and Horton Printers in his home city, designing show-cards, advertisements, and product labels. Wilson and Horton also published the Auckland Weekly News, to which Rountree progressed to become their special artist. In 1901 he decided to come to England to seek his fortune. To start with he struggled to make very much progress, until Sam Hield Hamer, editor of Little Folks magazine asked him to illustrate his story 'Extracts from the Diary of a Duckling'. Rountree discovered his forte in animal illustration, which he developed by frequent sketching visits to London Zoo. The book was a success and it was after this commission that Rountree's career began to flourish, and he became in demand as an illustrator.

Noted for his wonderful illustrations of British golf courses and golfing caricatures, with his golf course scenes becoming famous in the 1910 book by Bernard Darwin 'The Golf Courses of the British Isles'. Rountree became President of the London Sketch Club in 1914 and later retired to St. Ives, Cornwall.

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