For the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice, see David Hackett Souter.

David Henry Souter (30 March 1862 – 22 September 1935) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n artist and journalist.

Souter was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of David Henry Souter, an engineer, and his wife Ann Smith, née Grant. Souter studied art at the local branch of the South Kensington school, contributed to a local journal from 1880, Bon Accord, and went to Natal

Colony of Natal

The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...

 in 1881, where he engaged in journalism.

Souter married Jessie Swanson (died 1932) on 17 February 1886 and, together, they moved in 1886 to Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia, then settled in 1887 in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. In Sydney, Souter obtained a position with John Sands and Company, where he worked as an illustrator for some time before moving to William Brooks & Co. Ltd. Souter contributed cartoons to The Tribune

The Tribune

The Tribune is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from Chandigarh, New Delhi, Jalandhar, Dehradun and Bathinda. It was founded on 2 February 1881, in Lahore , by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising five eminent persons as...

, and in 1888 founded the "Brush Club" for members under 26 years of age, of which he became president. In 1892 he began contributing drawings to The Bulletin

The Bulletin

The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...

, and for a period of 35 years had at least one drawing in every issue. There are various stories about the cat which so frequently appeared in his drawings, one being that it was evolved from a blot that fell on a drawing at the last moment, and another that it first appeared to fill in a blank space. Some of Souter's cat studies are pictured in the children's nonsense rhyme book he wrote Bush Babs: with pictures (1933).

When the Society of Artists

Society of Artists

The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established Paris salons....

 was established at Sydney in 1895 Souter was elected to the council, and from 1901–02 was its president. Souter was art editor of Art and Architecture from 1904 to 1911, and for many years was associated with William Brooks and Company and illustrated many of the school books issued by them. In his later years he was on the editorial staff of Country Life

Country Life (magazine)

Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...

. Souter died suddenly at his home in Bondi, New South Wales

Bondi, New South Wales

Bondi is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bondi is located seven kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. The postcode is 2026.-Location:...

 on 22 September 1935, and was survived by two sons and three daughters.

Souter was a stocky and humorous man who wrote short stories, verse, light articles and plays, with a capable and ready pen. His separate publications were "The Grey Kimono: the Libretto of an Operetta" (1902). Souter did a fair amount of painting in water-colour, 10 examples were shown at the exhibition of the Society of Artists, held at Melbourne in 1907; but his reputation rests on his black and white work which considering the mass of it was very even in quality. A scrap-book containing a collection of his earlier work from the Bulletin is in the public library, Melbourne. A collection of his War Cartoons, reprinted from the Stock and Station Journal, was published at Sydney in 1915. He also illustrated volumes written by Ethel Turner

Ethel Turner

Ethel Turner was an Australian novelist and children's writer.She was born Ethel Mary Burwell in Doncaster in England. Her father died when she was two, leaving her mother Sarah Jane Burwell with two daughters . A year later, Sarah Jane married Henry Turner, who was twenty years older and had six...

and other Australian authors.

External links

• Bush babs : with pictures / by D.H. Souter at the National Library of Australia