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Raymond Sheppard

British artist (1913–1958)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ7299146
Source-derived summary

Raymond Sheppard (3 March 1913 – 21 April 1958) was a British artist and illustrator of books for children and adults. He wrote books on drawing techniques, but is best known for his illustrations of Ernest Hemingway's 1952 novel The Old Man and the Sea and the works of Jim Corbett.

Life

Sheppard was born on 3 March 1913, and was educated at Christ's College, Finchley. From childhood he had a love of nature, from his time playing in Scratchwood in Mill Hill, north-west London, to his time spent in London Zoo sketching live animals. He studied art at Bolt Court under S.G. Boxsius and from October 1940 to January 1946 served as a Leading Aircraftsman in the RAF.

He became a Fellow of the Zoological Society (F.Z.S, 1946); and a member of the Society of Graphic Artists (S.G.A, 1947), the Pastel Society (P.S., 1948), and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (R.I, 1949).

In the 1940s Sheppard wrote and illustrated a number of books for The Studio magazine, explaining techniques on how to draw birds and zoo animals. This was followed by a successful career as a story illustrator for Lilliput, as well as for leading authors of the day such as Enid Blyton and Jim Corbett. He is best known for his original illustrations of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway that he was commissioned to produce at the same time as Charles Tunnicliffe. The published version contained illustrations from both artists. He was also a founding member of the Wapping Group of Artists, officially launched in 1946.

Editorial summary

“Raymond Sheppard” enters the record as british artist (1913–1958). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Raymond, Sheppard and British can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1913, 1958, 1952, 1940—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1913-03-03. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Raymond, Sheppard and British.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Raymond Sheppard” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Raymond, Sheppard and British provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7299146. VIAF identifies the subject as 254182154. The Library of Congress control number is n84160145. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1913, 1958, 1952 and 1940.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Raymond Sheppard”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Raymond Sheppard primary sources, Raymond Sheppard archive and Raymond research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Raymond Sheppard” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.