Melton Prior

Melton Prior (12 September 1845 – 2 November 1910), was an English artist and war correspondent for The Illustrated London News from the early 1870s until 1904. Prior was one of the leading illustrators of late Victorian Britain, noted for his ability to quickly sketch scenes. His pencil sketches were sent back to London where they were re-drawn by studio artists and engraved on wood-blocks for printing in the Saturday issues of the Illustrated London News. In addition to covering conflicts around the world, he also traveled on a number of Royal tours including accompanying the Prince of Wales to Canada in 1901.

Prior was one of two major artists employed by the Illustrated London News, with the other being William Simpson (1823–1899).

Life

Prior was born in Camden Town, London, and studied under his father, William Henry Prior (1812–1882), a landscape artist, painter and illustrator. In 1873, he was contracted by the Illustrated London News to travel to West Africa to cover the Ashanti War. Among the correspondents that Prior rubbed along with in West Africa was G. A. Henty, with whom he had shared a hut on the campaign. Prior produced a drawing of the quarters that the war-correspondents shared and this was a title page illustration for the Illustrated London News on 28 February 1874. This was followed by covering the fighting against the Carlists in Spain before heading to eastern Europe where Prior sketched the events in Herzegovina and the Russo-Turkish War. He was buried at Hither Green Cemetery. A monument to Prior with a bas-relief portrait exists within the crypt at St Paul's Cathedral, London.

Works by Prior, Melton. (1912). Campaigns of a War Correspondent. London: Edward Arnold.