‘Montbard’ [Charles Auguste Loye], ‘English Homes No. XII: Knowsley, the Seat of the Earl of Derby, K.G’ in The Illustrated London News, 9 August 1890. NPR.C.313

Following on from the relative success of periodicals such as the Penny Magazine and The Saturday Magazine, the Illustrated London News was the first successful mainstream illustrated newspaper. Founded in 1842, it covered a broad range of news and current affairs, but also included what we would now deem ‘lifestyle’ articles. For a decade between 1885 and 1895, the newspaper ran a series titled ‘English Homes’, written by Edward Rose. Each article was accompanied by a wood engraving, sometimes incorporating smaller vignettes. The artist was Charles Auguste Loye, who worked under the pseudonym of Montbard. Although over a century had passed since Brown had worked at Knowsley, the ILN reserved its most effusive praise for his lake, the wooded shores of which it enthused were ‘as beautiful as nature – and at least as natural’.