George Samuel Measom

File:1865 George Samuel Measom.png

Portrait of Measom, ca.1860s

Sir George Samuel Measom (1818-1901) was an English engraver and publisher who compiled guides to railway travel in Great Britain in the mid-19th century. In later life he became involved in charitable works, and was knighted in 1891.

Biography

George Samuel Measom was born 3 December 1818, in Blackheath, Kent, son of Daniel Measom, a carver and gilder.

In 1842 he married Sarah née Hillman. During the 1840 he developed his skills as an engraver and in 1849 published The Bible: its Elevating Influence on Man, a moral tale in illustrated form. From the 1850s onwards much of Measom's work related to descriptions of railways; first railway work was the 1852 Illustrated Guide to the Great Western Railway. His railway works described the railways from the practical standpoint of a traveller, and all publications after the first took a title of the form "Th Official Illustrated Guide to ... ". By 1867 his book covered the entire British network.

Sarah died in 1867, after which he remarried to Charlotte née Simpson.

From the 1880s Measom became involved in charity work, he was treasurer of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and promoted a related work that later became the Battersea Dogs' Home, and supported the Royal Marsden hospital.

He was knighted in 1891, for his public work. George Measom died on 1 March 1901 at home, Isleworth, Middlesex. He left no children.

See also

• George Bradshaw, publisher of railway timetables and guides.

External links

• Cover image, Great Western Railway, 1860