EMSLIE, John Philipps (Phillipps) (Phillips) (1839-1913) — London
Artist, engraver & lithographer. Produced plans, section and details of a Roman hypocaust found in Bucklersbury (ms) 1869; Plan of an ancient crypt (demolished in 1876) at the corner of Aldgate and Jewry Street (ms) 1876; with his father John Emslie (see BME 2011) and younger brother William Roland Emslie (1842-1918) as ‘John Emslie & Sons’ produced John Airey, Railway diagram of London and its suburbs 1869; with his brother, as ‘J. P. & W. R. Emslie’, produced John Airey, Airey’s railway map of South Wales 1875; Airey’s railway map of Lancashire & district 1875; maps for ‘Book of railway junction diagrams’ 1876 onwards; John Airey, Airey’s railway map of Scotland 1876; Airey’s railway map of London and its suburbs 1876; Airey’s railway map of England and Wales, both two-sheet and four-sheet versions 1877; Airey’s railway map of Yorkshire district 1877; Airey’s railway map of the Cumberland & Westmorland districts 1879; Airey’s railway map of Manchester & district 1880, etc., with numerous similar productions and later editions. Also known for a number of bookplates. His ‘New Canterbury tales’ (1887), a Chaucerian parody of a number of currently fashionable notions, was both “thoroughly amusing and entertaining” (The Bookseller, 5 Nov 1887), and “a volume of pretentious twaddle” (Leeds Mercury, 3 Dec 1887). Principally known for a large number of views of London streets, etc., in particular his illustrations for the three volumes of ‘The illustrated topographical record of London’ published by the London Topographical Society 1898-1900, for which he also provided a commentary.
Born in London 21 May 1839 and baptised 11 Jun 1839 at St. Andrew Holborn, the eldest son of John Emslie (see BME 2011) and his wife Katharine Amelia Farmer (1812-1892), who had married the previous year. He studied at the Working Men’s College from 1854 and had tuition from Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Initially worked as a map engraver with his father and younger brother William Roland Emslie (1842-1918) as ‘John Emslie & Sons’, then, after his father’s death in 1875, with his brother as ‘J. P. & W. R. Emslie’. Another brother was the artist and engraver Alfred Edward Emslie A.R.W.S. (1847-1918). Exhibited regularly at the Royal Society of British Artists, as well as at Suffolk Street, the Royal Academy and elsewhere 1869-1885. He was also an original member of the Folklore Society and a member of its council. He donated a large collection of his father’s work to the BM in 1913. He died at 101 Southampton Row 24 Sep 1913. Probate on effects of £4,478.0s.5d. was granted to a nephew. He is buried in a family grave at Highgate Cemetery, where a gravestone survives.
10 Gray’s Inn Terrace — 1851-1861
47 Gray’s Inn Road — 1869-1893
Addington Villa, Addington Square, Camberwell — 1899
50 Kestrel Avenue, Herne Hill — 1901
3 Addington Square, Camberwell — 1913
BM. BNA. Census 1841-1911. Fincham. Graves (1901) (1905). Hyde. Johnson (1975). LG. LHD. LMA. Smith. Tooley.