Editing Lancelot Speed

{{short description|British painter and illustrator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox artist
| birth_name       = Lancelot Speed
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1860|06|13|df=y}}
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1931|12|31|1860|06|13|df=yes}}
}}

'''Lancelot Speed''' (13 June 1860 &ndash; 31 December 1931) was a coastal painter and a British illustrator of books in the [[Victorian era]], usually of a fantastical or romantic nature. He is probably most well known for his illustrations for [[Andrew Lang]]'s [[Andrew Lang's Fairy Books|fairy story books]]. Speed is credited as the designer of the 1916 [[silent film]] version of the novel ''[[She: A History of Adventure]]'' by [[H. Rider Haggard]], which he illustrated.

==Early life==
Speed was born in [[London]] on 13 June 1860, the youngest son of William Speed, a [[Queen's Counsel]] of the [[Middle Temple]]. He attended [[Rugby School]]. He was admitted to and matriculated from there in Easter 1881. He was admitted to [[Clare College, Cambridge]], on 27 January 1881, matriculated that Easter, and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1885.<ref name=Speed-Cam>{{ cite web |title=Searching for Surname=SPEED; Forename=lancelot |website=A Cambridge Alumni Database |url=http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2018.pl?sur=Speed&suro=w&fir=Lancelot&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50 |accessdate=2020-05-11 }}</ref>[[File:Elaine-Speed.jpg|thumb|345x345px|right|Speed's "[[Elaine of Astolat]]" (1919)]]

==Illustration==
Speed had no formal art training, but became an illustrator working primarily in black and white. Process engraving particularly suited his fine lines, and he was one of the earlier illustrators to benefit from the new technology.<ref name=Peppin-282>{{ cite book |last1=Peppin |first1=Bridget |last2=Micklethwait |first2=Lucy |title=Book Illustrators of the Twentieth Century |chapter=Lancelot Speed (1860-1931) |pages=282 |date=1984 |publisher=Arco Publishing Inc. |location=New York }}</ref>

He lived and worked at [[Southend-on-Sea]], England in the latter part of his life.<ref name=Houfe-461>{{ cite book |last=Houfe |first=Simon |title=Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists, 1800-1914 |chapter=Speed, Lancelot 1860-1931 |pages=461 |date=1978 |publisher=Antique Collectors' Club |location=Woodbridge |isbn=9780902028739 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbrit00houf/page/461/mode/1up |accessdate=2020-05-11 }}</ref>

==Films==

He was also the director of several early British silent films.

* Britain's Efforts<ref>{{Cite web |title=BRITAIN'S EFFORT : drawings by Lancelot Speed [Main Title] |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060008269#:~:text=Full%20description,over%20a%20pile%20of%20weapons. |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=Imperial War Museums |language=en}}</ref>
* The Wonderful Adventures of Pip, Squeak and Wilfred series
** ''The Wonderful Adventures of Pip, Squeak And Wilfred''
** ''Pip And Wilfred Detectives''
** ''Wilfred's Wonderful Adventures''
** ''Over The Edge of the World''
** ''Popski's Early Life''
** ''The Castaways''
** ''The Six-Armed Image''
** ''Trouble in the Nursery''
** ''Ups And Downs''
** ''Wilfred's Nightmare''[[File:Lancelot through with Guinevere by Lancelot Speed.jpg|thumb|355x355px|Lancelot through with Guinevere by Lancelot Speed]]

Lancelot Speed's cartoon work is the source of the nickname for the colourful commander of the World War II Special Forces unit "[[Popski's Private Army]]". [[Lieutenant Colonel]] [[Vladimir Peniakoff]], DSO MC, a Belgian of [[White émigré|White Russian]] descent, was called "Popski" by Bill Kennedy Shaw, the Intelligence Officer of the [[Long Range Desert Group]] because his signallers had trouble with the spelling of his surname. Peniakoff earned early notoriety (and his MC) with his behind-the-lines raids to blow up German petrol dumps, transported there and back, in some exasperation, by the LRDG.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

In the ''[[Pip, Squeak and Wilfred]]'' adventures before the start of World War II, there were two hairy characters: one was a scheming, plotting, bomb-throwing Bolshevik, and the other was his dog. The mad Russian was called "[[Professor Wtzkoffski]]" and the dog was called "Popski". These cartoon characters in the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' were well known to all the soldiers, and in his best-selling book about his small irregular unit, "Popski" said, "...I was delighted with my nickname...".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peniakoff |first=Vladimir |title=Private Army |publisher=Cape |year=1950 |pages=116}}</ref>

==Death==
Speed died at [[Deal, Kent]] on 31 December 1931<ref group=note>Houfe incorrectly gives the date of his death as 21 December 1931.</ref> and was buried at [[Knowlton, Kent]], England.<ref name=Speed-Cam /> His estate was valued at just over £265.<ref name=Will-Speed>{{ cite web |title=Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Speed and Year of Death 1932 |website=Find a Will Service |pages=453 |url=https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=speed&yearOfDeath=1932&page=2#calendar |accessdate=2020-05-11 }}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Lancelot Speed}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=9847| name=Lancelot Speed}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Speed, Lancelot|name=Lancelot Speed|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Lancelot Speed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speed, Lancelot}}
[[Category:1860 births]]
[[Category:1931 deaths]]
[[Category:British children's book illustrators]]
[[Category:British film directors]]
[[Category:British illustrators]]
[[Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Illustrators of fairy tales]]
[[Category:British fantasy artists]]