Alfred Thomas Elwes


Alfred Thomas Elwes was a British natural history illustrator of mammals and birds. For most of his life he lived and worked in England, illustrating for Illustrated London News as well as various natural history books of the nineteenth century.

Life and work

Elwes was born in Leghorn, Italy around 1841. One of his earliest artistic credits is the frontispiece to
The Legend of the Mount; or, the Days of Chivalry, written by his father, philologist and author Alfred Elwes, which he signed "A.T Elwes," and for which he is credited on the title page as "Alfred Elwes, Jun." From 1872 to 1877 he was employed by the Illustrated London News as the chief draftsman of natural history subjects. Elwes was married in Gravesend, Kent on 15 October 1873 to Kate Barnard. In 1882 Elwes wrote How to draw animals, birds and dogs. He died sometime after 1911 probably around 1917 in Willesden, Middlesex.

Books illustrated by Elwes