Ernest Howard Shepard MC, OBE

British 1879-1976

Ernest Howard Shepard was an English artist and book illustrator. He is best remembered for his immortal illustrations to Winnie-the-Pooh and The Wind in the Willows but he was a wide-ranging illustrator and had a main occupation working as one of Punch magazine’s leading political cartoonists.

Shepard was elected to the Punch “table” in 1921 and made good friends with both Frank Reynolds, the magazine’s new art editor, and the writer E.V. Lucas. It was Lucas who introduced Shepard to A.A. Milne, thus initiating several immortal projects.

Shepard was awarded the OBE in 1972 and died at Midhurst, Sussex on 24 March 1976. His work is represented in the collections of the British Museum and the V&A; and the Shepard Archive at the University of Surrey (Guildford).