Edith Farmiloe

Edith Farmiloe (18701921) was a British children's book author and illustrator, active from 1895 to about 1905.

Life Edith Caroline Parnell was born in Gillingham, Kent, England, in 1870. She was living with her husband at 124 Ashley Gardens, opposite Westminster Cathedral in 1901 and was by then listed in the census as an "artist'". In 1905, Rev. Farmiloe and his wife moved to South Hackney where he became vicar of St. Augustine's overlooking Victoria Park. Her sketches, from her observing children playing on the streets, were used in Events of the Season, which appeared first in Little Folks magazine in November 1895. Detailed bibliographical references to Farmiloe's work are taken from Mr. Beare's 2010 study.

Farmiloe went on to illustrate many children's books including All the World Over (1898), with verses by Edward Verrall Lucas. This collaboration resulted from an association with the publisher Franklin Thomas Grant Richards (who traded as 'Grant Richards'), made in 1897 when she created endpaper designs for his first three 'Dumpy Books for Children'. In All the World Over Farmiloe originated the colour drawings, receiving a royalty of 10% for the first 1500 copies and 15% thereafter. The venture was a success and 2000 copies had sold by the end of 1898.

Farmiloe both wrote and illustrated at least eight books herself. These included 'Chousers' and other stories (1898), Piccalilli (1900), Chapel Street Children (1900), Young George - his Life (1902) and Mr Biddle and the Dragon (1904). The Pall Mall Gazette called Rag, Tag, and Bobtail (1989) "one of the few books which deserve a place on the shelves of every (nursery) library." In its review of Piccalilli (1900), the same newspaper wrote that Farmiloe "has an exact eye for the humour and pathos of the children of the street, and her drawings are amazingly true to life, fresh, piquant, and convincing." A review in The Graphic described Chapel Street Children (1900) as "a book which will delight children of any age," adding that Farmiloe is "second to none in her delineations of Cockney gutter imps."

Selected works All the World Over (1898) with verses by writer E. V. Lucas Piccalilli (1900) Chapel Street Children (1900) The bountiful lady - or, how Mary was changed from a very miserable little girl to a very happy one (1900) with writer Thomas Cobb and other illustrators Little Citizens (1901) with Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) Young George - his Life (1902) Mr and Mrs Tiddliwinks (1902), with Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) One Day (1903) with other writers Mr Biddle and the Dragon (1904) Elizabeth over-the-Way (1905) Our Darlings (1910) with writers W. Davenport Adams, Catharine Shaw, and other illustrators, Harry B. Neilson, Louis Wain.