George Samuel Measom

British engraver and publisher

Portrait of Measom, ca.1860s

Sir George Samuel Measom (3 December 1818 – 1 March 1901) was a British engraver and publisher who compiled guides to railway travel in Great Britain in the mid-19th century. In later life he became involved in charitable works, and was knighted in 1891.

Biography

Measom was born in Blackheath, Kent, the son of Daniel Measom, a carver and gilder.^[1]

In 1842, he married Sarah Hillman. During the 1840s, he developed his skills as an engraver and in 1849 published The Bible: its Elevating Influence on Man, a moral tale in illustrated form.^[2] From the 1850s onwards much of Measom's work related to descriptions of railways; first railway work was the 1852 Illustrated Guide to the Great Western Railway. His railway works described the railways from the practical standpoint of a traveller, and all publications after the first took a title of the form The Official Illustrated Guide to ... . By 1867 his book covered the entire British network.^[3]

Sarah died in 1867, after which he remarried to Charlotte Simpson.^[4]

From the 1880s, Measom became involved in charity work, he was treasurer of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and promoted a related work that later became the Battersea Dogs' Home, and supported the Royal Marsden hospital.^[4]

He was knighted in 1891, for his public work. George Measom died on 1 March 1901 at home, Isleworth, Middlesex. He left no children.^[4]

Works

• The Bible: its Elevating Influence on Man, 1849
• Illustrated Guide to the Great Western Railway, 1852
• Official Illustrated Guide to the Brighton and South Coast Railways, London: H.G. Collins, 1853
• Official Illustrated Guide to the South-Eastern Railway, London: W.H. Smith and Son, 1853, OCLC 25963337
• The Crystal Palace Alphabet: A Guide for Good Children, 1855
• Light from the East: Tales Moral and Instructive of Oriental Origin and Character, 1856
• Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Northern Railway, London: W.H. Smith and Son, 1857
• Official Illustrated Guide to the Lancaster and Carlisle, Edinburgh & Glasgow, and Caledonian Railways, London: W.H. Smith and Son, 1859
• Official Illustrated Guide to the North-Western Railway, London: W.H. Smith and Son, 1859
• Official Illustrated Guide to the Bristol and Exeter, North and South Devon, Cornwall, and South Wales Railways, London: Richard Griffin and Co., 1860
• Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Northern Railway, London: Griffin, Bohn, 1861, OCLC 12433505, OL 20523968M
• Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Eastern Railway, London: C. Griffin and Co., 1865
• Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Southern & Western Railway, London: C. Griffin, 1866
• Official illustrated guide to the Midland Great Western, and Dublin and Drogheda Railways, London: C. Griffin and Co., 1867

See also

• George Bradshaw, publisher of railway timetables and guides.

References

1. "(obituary)". Railway News. 75: 1901. 9 March 1901.
2. Martin 2007, para.1.
3. Martin 2007, para.2.
4. Martin 2007, para.4.

Sources

• Martin, G. H. (2007). "Measom, Sir George Samuel (1818–1901), publisher and philanthropist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/89945. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

• Cover image, Great Western Railway, 1860