Furniss, Harry (1854-1925)

Irish caricaturist and pioneer of the animated cartoon film (1914). After drawing for the Illustrated London News (1876-84) and Punch (1884-94), he worked in the early film industry with Thomas Alva Edison (1912-13).

Born in Wexford, of an English father, Furniss went to London in 1873. In addition to his magazine caricatures, he illustrated Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno, as well as editions of Dickens and Thackeray. He edited and published his own cartoon magazine, Like Joka from 1894 onwards, and wrote an autobiography, Confessions of a Caricaturist.