MEADOWS, JOSEPH KENNY (1790-1874); draughtsman;
christened at S. Mary's, Cardigan, 1 Nov. 1790, second son of James Meadows. His career is not recorded until 1823 when he was responsible for some of the illustrations in The Mirror of the Stage, and the lithographs used in Planché's Costume of Shakespere's Historical Tragedy of King John. He achieved popularity with The Heads of the People or Portraits of the English, 1838-40, to which W. M. Thackeray contributed. Meadows put out an illustrated edition of Shakespeare's works, 1839-43; he also illustrated many of the Christmas numbers of the Illustrated London News. He m. the daughter of John Hennings, the sculptor, and was friendly with the leading writers of his day. He d. 19 Aug. 1874.
Bibliography:
- Registers of S. Mary's, Cardigan;
- D.N.B.;
- catalogue 139 of Ifan Kyrle Fletcher;
- G. N. Ray, ed., The Letters of W. M. Thackeray (London, 1945), i, 426.
Author:
Cecil John Layton Price, Ph.D. (1915-91), Aberystwyth / Swansea
