Cattermole, GEORGE, water-colour painter and book-illustrator, was born at Dickleborough, Norfolk, 8th August 1800. He began life as a topographical draftsman. At the age of sixteen he was engaged upon Britton's English Cathedrals, and in 1830 he visited Scotland to obtain materials for his fine series of illustrations to the Waverley Novels. He was soon known as a brilliant designer, and was largely employed by the publishers, contributing to the annuals, his best work of this class being the illustrations to his brother, the Rev. C. Cattermole's Historical Annual, dealing with the period of the Civil War. In 1822 he was elected an associate exhibitor, and in 1833 a member, of the Water-colour Society, to whose exhibitions he contributed 'Sir Walter Raleigh witnessing the Execution of the Earl of Essex' (1839), 'Old English
Hospitality' (1839), 'The Castle Chapel' (1840), 'The Assassination of the Regent Murray' (1843), 'Cellini defending the Castle of St Angelo' (1845), and others of his best water-colours, examples of which may be studied in the South Kensington Museum. He retired from the society in 1850, and turned his attention to oil-painting, exhibiting 'A Terrible Secret,' a work in this medium, in the Royal Academy of 1863. He died at Clapham Common, 24th July 1868. As an artist he was distinguished by great versatility, and by considerable power of grouping and composition. He was learned in costume, and his works show much dramatic feeling. He gained a first-class gold medal at the Paris Exposition of 1855, and was a member of the Royal Academy at Amsterdam, and of the Belgian Society of Water-colour Painters.