Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Railton, Herbert
RAILTON, HERBERT (1858–1910), black-and-white draughtsman and illustrator, born on 21 Nov. 1858 at Pleasington, Lancashire, was eldest child (in a family of two son and a daughter) of John Railton by his wife Eliza Ann Alexander. His parents were Roman catholics. After education at Malines, in Belgium, and at Ampleforth College, Yorkshire, he was trained as an architect in the office of W. S. Varley of Blackburn, and showed great skill as an architectural draughtsman, but he soon abandoned his profession for book-illustration, and came to London to practise that art in 1885. Some of his earliest work was contributed to the 'Portfolio' in that year. He first attracted attention by his illustrations in the Jubilee edition of the 'Pickwick Papers' (1887), and in the following year joined Mr. Hugh Thomson in illustrating 'Coaching Days and Coaching Ways,' by W. O. Tristram. Some of his best drawings appeared in the 'English Illustrated Magazine,' and among books which he illustrated may be mentioned 'The Peak of Derbyshire' by J. Leyland (1891), 'The Inns of Court and Chancery' by W. J. Loftie (1893), 'Hampton Court' by W. H. Hutton (1897), 'The Book of Glasgow Cathedral' by G. Eyre-Todd (1898), 'The Story of Brages ' by E. Gilliat-Smith (1901), and 'The Story of Chartres' by C. Headlam (1902). Railton was a delicate and careful draughtsman, and rendered the texture and detail of old buildings with particular charm. The crisp, broken line of his work lent his drawings an air of pleasant picturesqueness, though it was not without a mannerism which tended to become monotonous. His pen work was eminently suited for successful reproduction by process, and he exercised a wide influence on contemporary illustration.
Railton died in St. Mary's Hospital from pneumonia on 15 March 1910, and was buried at St. Mary's catholic cemetery, Kensal Green. He married on 19 Sept. 1891 Frances Janetta Edney, who survived him with one daughter.
[The Times, 18 March 1910; Pennell's Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen, 1889; information from Miss Railton.]