John Doyle
1797–1868 · Irish caricaturist and lithographer, known as H. B.
John Doyle (Dublin, 1797 – London, 1868), known by the pen name H. B., was an Irish political caricaturist, painter and lithographer who worked mostly in London. His importance lies in having set a model of satirical caricature that shaped the British school of cartoonists associated with Punch magazine.
Born into a Dublin Roman Catholic family, he trained in landscape and miniature painting and won a gold medal from the Dublin Society in 1805. He painted equestrian portraits and in 1822 issued six prints on the life of a racehorse. Between 1817 and 1821 he moved to London with his wife, Marianna Conan, vowing never to return to a country that treated Catholics so badly. His painting Turning out the Stag brought him recognition at the Royal Academy in 1825.
From 1827 he published political cartoons printed by lithography, issued monthly during parliamentary sessions for twenty-two years. His likenesses were faithful, with little exaggeration, and his humour was sarcastic. He signed with the initials H. B., built from two Js and two Ds. His identity stayed secret until 1843. Over time his style grew gentler, and Thackeray thought his later work too genteel to earn more than a polite smile. After his death he was largely forgotten, though he is now considered a founder of the British cartoon tradition.