William Oldham, Wood-Engraver

(d. 1889)


From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913

A wood-engraver in good practice in Dublin during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He won prizes given by the Royal Irish Art Union for wood-engraving in 1844 and 1846. He worked for the Dublin publishers and engraved the cartoons and illustrations for " The Weekly News," "Young Ireland" and "Zozimus." He died at his residence, 8 Lower Gloucester Street, Dublin, on 16th March, 1889, aged 80 years, and was buried on the following day in Glasnevin Cemetery. He had three sons, of whom William, known as "Alf," was a wood-engraver and worked with his father; he was a big, corpulent man, and had to cut a curved space in front of his table so that he might sit close enough to his work. He died in the North Dublin Union, the last of the Dublin wood-engravers.

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