James Ayton Symington
James Ayton Symington was an English book and magazine illustrator from Leeds. He worked closely with the Leeds publisher Richard Jackson, but moved to London after his marriage in 1889.
Early life
Very little is known about his early life. Kirkpatrick notes that he did not appear in the census records until 1891, when he was 34 years old, and there is no record of his birth in the Civil Registration Birth Index. The first public notice of Symington appears to be in the Leeds Mercury in April 1886, which announced that The Rivers of Yorkshire by George Radford would be published in October by Richard Jackson and would have 12 etchings by Symington, a Yorkshire etcher of rising popularity.The book was published by subscription, with ordinary subscribers paying 10s. 6d., 200 copies on Japan paper at a guinea. and 25 proofs on satin at two guineas. The book was eventually published on 8 December 1886 with the revised title Rambles by Yorkshire Rivers.Symington illustrated a number of other books for Richard Jackson including Yorkshire by the Sea, another published by subscription volume by George Radford, Jackson's New Illustrated Guide to Leeds and Environs, and Some Historic Mansions of Yorkshire and their Associations, by civil engineer and amateur antiquarian William Wheater
Marriage and middle life
The 1891 census shows Symington with a wife Kate. Kirkpatrick speculates that this was Catherine Tindall who married a James Symington at the Parish Church in Doncaster on 19 May 1889. However, in the 1911 Census, Kate give the number of years married as 29, suggesting that their marriage took place between 2 and 5 April 1911. Of course, errors in the ages and durations in the census returns are not uncommon.In any case, the couple had one son, Arthur Ayton who trained as a civil engineer and was his mother's executor.
The 1891 census found Symington and his wife living at 71 Cheverton Road, Putney, Wandsworth, London. They were still there in 1896, but 1901 found them living with their young son at 1 West Park Gardens, Kew Gardens, Kew, London. They were still at that address in 1912. Symington was granted permission to erect a house at Old Church Lane, Stanmore, Edgeware, North London in October 1912. He seems to have built the house as, in 1916, the next-of-kin address on his sons enlistment papers gave his address as "Loidis" Old Church Road, Greater Stanmore.
They were still in Church Lane in 1922, but had moved to Dale Cottage, Meadowside, Great Bookham, Surrey by 1927. and were still there ten years later. Although living in London, Symington maintained his connection with Leeds. His son was born in Leeds, and in 1934 Symington donated 7 black-and-white drawings of Yorkshire windmills to the Leeds Museum.
Work
Symington illustrated both magazines and books. He seems to have done almost no illustration from his late fifties, after the start of the First World War.Magazine illustration
Symington was a regular contributor to:- The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
- Good Words
- The Windsor Magazine
- The Universal Review
- Atalanta
- The Art Journal
- Young England
- Silver Link
- Chums where he was a regular contribution for a time.
- Young Folk's Tales
- Cheer, Boys, Cheer
- The Boy's Own Paper
Example of magazine illustration
Illustrations by James Ayton Symington for "The Progress of Lawn Tennis" by Wilfred Baddeley in The Windsor Magazine. Volume 2: July to December, 1895, pp 179-184.Symington illustrated a further three articles in that volume of the magazine.Book illustration
Kirkpatrick lists more than 90 book illustrated by Symington. Symington illustrated three main types of books:- Adult Novels
- Topographical books, featuring landscapes, cathedrals, and towns.
- Children's adventure books, which formed the bulk of his book illustration work.
- Honoré de Balzac, a French playwright and novelist who is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature
- Georgiana Marion Craik, who wrote for young women mostly, but also for girls,.
- Daniel Defoe, who wrote Robinson Crusoe and A Journal of the Plague Year among other works.
- Evelyn Everett-Green, who moved from pious stores for children, through historical romances, to adult romances under a range of pseudonyms.
- G. A. Henty, a prolific writer of boy's adventure fiction, often set in a historical context, who had himself served in the military and been a war correspondent.
- Thomas Hughes, an English lawyer, judge, politician, and author, now best remembered for semi-autobiographical Tom Brown's School Days
- E. C. Kenyon, Edith Caroline Kenton, published more than 50 novels, mainly juvenile fiction, and mostly with the Religious Tract Society as well as translations, biographies, and tracts.
- David Ker, an English journalist, traveller, soldier, and author of juvenile fiction, who based the action in his stories on his own hair-raising experiences.
- Robert Leighton, a Scottish journalist, editor, and a prolific author of juvenile fiction and non-fiction books about dogs and their care.
- Frederick Marryat, a Royal Navy officer who wrote adventure books for children.
- G. B. McKean, Captain George Burdon McKean, a Canadian soldier who won the Victoria Cross in World War I who wrote about his experience in the war.
- L. T. Meade, Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith, a prolific Irish writer of stories for girls.
- Ella Edersheim Overton, who contributed to religious-themed magazines and published two novels.
- Charles Eyre Pascoe, who wrote on the stage, travelogues, guides to schools, souvenirs and other works.
- Charles Reade, an English novelist and dramatist,.
- Mary E. Ropes, Mary Emily Ropes
- Herbert Strang, a pair of writers producing adventure fiction for boys, both historical and modern-day.
- Hugh St. Leger, an English journalist and writer of juvenile fiction for boys, mostly adventure stories in a nautical setting.
- H. G. Wells, a prolific English writer, now best remembered for his science fiction.
- Frederick Whishaw, a Russian-born British historian, poet, musician, and author of juvenile fiction.
Example of Book Illustration
Later life
Symington seems to have stopped working by 1914. Kirkpatrick lists no book illustrations by him later than that year, and Hoofe gives his active years as ending in 1908.Symington was living at Yewby, Yew Tree Gardens, Woodcote Side, Epsom, Surrey when he died on Epsom and Ewell Cottage Hospital on Monday, 6 February 1939. He was buried the following Friday at Lawnwood Cemetery in Leeds. His estate was valued at only £211, 2s and 6d, and his widow was executrix.
Assessment
Blewett considered that Symington's 16 colour and 45 black-and-white illustrations for the 1905 J. M. Dent edition of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was were on the whole superior to rival editions. The Sheffield Independent offered this book as one of a set of six children's classics in a promotional offer in 1934.The Scotsman referred to Symington's work for this book as tasteful coloured illustrations