1. derbyshirelife.co.uk DERBYSHIRE LIFE January 2015 101
The curious contraptions of
Heath Robinson
As Derby Museum & Art Gallery devotes an exhibition to the illustrator, Lauren Allen looks
at his life and works and why he occupies a special place in the hearts of Derby makers

2. derbyshirelife.co.uk102 DERBYSHIRE LIFE January 2015
T
he moment that changed the
world of cartoon history
forever came in 1887 when
up-and-coming artist William
Heath Robinson abandoned
his aspirations to become a landscape artist
and switched to illustrating books.
He first gained renown in the publishing
world with illustrations for a ground-
breaking edition of Cervantes’ ‘Don
Quixote’ in 1899, followed by works such as
an edition of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
and Charles Kingsley’s ‘The Water-Babies’,
for which he was highly acclaimed. This
helped to exercise his artistic talents, but
the pictures of complicated and outlandish
cartoon contraptions for which he was to
become a household name, arose from
three children’s books he both wrote and
illustrated: The Adventures of Uncle Lubin
(1902), Bill the Minder (1912) and Peter Quip
in Search of a Friend (1922).
‘The Adventures of Uncle Lubin’ was the
start of his career as a depictor of
implausible machines; the artwork of the
Aeronaut on the cover hinting at the
playful mind of the author and giving some
indication of the crazy stories to be found
inside.
Heath Robinson’s work struck a chord
with the British love of eccentricity and
inventiveness and his appeal was not just
due to the contraptions he invented but
also to the obliviousness of the people
using his machines as if they are perfectly
acceptable everyday aids. This was his way
of poking fun at modern living and
caricaturing the age of the rise of the
machine. His work eventually appeared in
the pages of The Sketch and Tatler, who
commissioned him to delight their readers
with whimsical drawings of crazy and
complex inventions that achieved
ludicrously simple time-saving results.
Heath Robinson came into his own
during the First World War as he turned his
attention to military machines, creating
gentle satirical cartoons which soon proved
hugely popular with the soldiers. Indeed it
was during the war years that machines
which seemed complicated without being
immediately practical or effective became
widely referred to as ‘a bit Heath Robinson’.
During the Second World War, such was
Heath’s fame that it was said that his
caricatures of Germans, the Home Front
and the machines of war made a
contribution to the war effort by raising
morale. Behind the scenes, his sons went
off to fight for Britain and, explaining why
his cartoons did not seem to feature the
enemies as might be expected, he said he
felt the Nazis were too terrible to be shown
by his gentle humour.
William Heath Robinson died in 1944
and although he was never comfortable
being pigeonholed as a whimsical
cartoonist – preferring to be appreciated as
an artist with a wider range – his name will
forever be associated with any machine
that is improbable, amateur and only
functioning because of a combination of
constant tinkering, lashings of duck tape
and sheer luck.
The original version of the Aeronaut on
the cover of ‘The Adventures of Uncle
Lubin’, and another picture from the book,
The Submarine, form part of a collection of
‘The Curious Contraptions
of Heath Robinson’, the
exhibition provides a
pictorial history of his career
as ‘The Gadget Man’.
A convenient little room for early breakfast
A perfect husband
Frittering bananas

3. 35 pieces of Heath Robinson artwork that
are on show at Derby Museum and Art
Gallery until March. Entitled ‘The
Curious Contraptions of Heath Robinson’,
the exhibition provides a pictorial history
of his career as ‘The Gadget Man’. The
added attraction of hosting an exhibition
in Derby is that as the home of Rolls-
Royce, Bombardier and Toyota, it is very
much a maker’s city.
‘Heath Robinson’s work is about
making madcap machines in a world of
“serious” manufacturing, as is Derby’s,’
says Jonathan Wallis, head of museums,
‘and his work is synonymous with the
spirit of many things that Derby
Museums have been doing recently to
celebrate Derby as a city of makers.
‘We are very honoured to have it here
with us. His work has not been
displayed in Derby on this scale since
1941, when according to the curators’
diary it was the most successful
exhibition of the year.’
The pictures – including a local link to
Derby’s railway history with Heath’s
illustration ‘An Early Signal’ – are on
loan from the William Heath Robinson
Trust which is currently developing a
new museum at West House in Pinner,
Middlesex.
derbyshirelife.co.uk DERBYSHIRE LIFE January 2015 103
The exhibition at Derby will be accompanied by a series of events and projects to allow
visitors to explore their own inventive and ‘wacky’ sides – ensuring Heath Robinson and
his madcap creations continue to inspire a new generation of makers.
For opening times visit www.derbymuseums.org
ABOVE: Railway Ribaldry - Electric Telegraph
RIGHT: How to avoid being caught in any part of
the field
BELOW: Consequences - falling toothbrush
Mass Piano Instruction