John Augustus Charles Harrison was born in Manchester, England, on 5 August 1872. His father Samuel was also a famous engraver, and the young John became his father's apprentice at the age of 13, while also attending art classes in Birmingham. Harrison started his career aged seventeen, with a short stint at Waterlow Brothers and Layton, where he was an ornamental engraver. He was subsequently hired by Waterlow & Sons, from at least 1891 on.
During his first time at Waterlow & Sons, Harrison could have engraved the New Zealand 1d Universal Penny Postage stamp, but other sources state that it was Thomas Samuel Harrison.
Around the turn of the century, Harrison decided to become a freelance engraver. He subsequently produced some engravings for Perkins, Bacon & Co. Among those was a portrait of the new king, Edward VII. The engraver Charles Skinner used Harrison’s portrait as the model for his 1903 Canadian definitives.
A little later, Harrison decided to go back to Waterlow & Sons, where he became their master portrait engraver.
When Harrison engraved the die for the British Seahorses issue of 1913, the original idea was to produce all values from a single master die, with the individual values added later. However, Britannia's shield proved to be heraldically wrong so that was removed from the master die. Consequently, all four values have individually engraved shields. In 1973, Bradbury Wilkinson got permission to use the die with the shield removed, dating from 1912, as part of a recess-printed souvenir sheet issued to mark the British Philatelic Exhibition.
In 1924, Harrison engraved the stamp issued to promote the British Empire Exhibition. Only one master die was engraved with the value of three halfpence. This master die was used for the other value as well and it was also used for both values of the subsequent 1925 issue. Unfortunately, the 1924 dies, which included the master die, have not survived but the 1925 auxiliary dies have. An official reprint of the 1925 one penny proof was used on a souvenir sheet to mark the 1975 British Philatelic Exhibition.
At the time Harrison was asked to engrave the 1929 £1 Postal Union Congress stamp for Britain, he was still employed by Waterlow & Sons. The printing contract, however, had been given to Bradbury, Wilkinson, but only on the condition that the £1 stamp would be engraved by Harrison. Special permission was granted by Waterlow to let Harrison engrave this particular stamp. The head of King George V was actually taken from the master die of the British Seahorses stamps of 1913. Although proofs were made with sixteen colours, the stamp was eventually printed in black, to sharpen the contrast and accentuate the darker parts of the engraving.
Regarding the various 21st century Royal Mail stamp reproductions: both the Seahorses and the £1 PUC stamp came from an amalgam of proofs taken from dies, rollers, proofs etc., which explains why the £1 Seahorse has crosshatching around the portrait of the king.
It is not certain who engraved the dies for the 1934 pictorial definitive set for British Guiana, but the name of Harrison appears in the Waterlow & Sons index against these values, so it is presumed he was responsible for these excellent engravings.
In 1936, Harrison engraved a small vignette of the portrait of King Edward VIII, which Waterlow & Sons were going to use on their forthcoming colonial definitive sets. The abdication of the king brought that project to an end but Harrison was subsequently involved in another aborted project of Waterlow’s: the 1937 Coronation issue.
Harrison engraved a die of the omnibus design, but his work was not accepted. Waterlow then withdrew citing ‘prior commitments’. Harrison’s work was not totally in vain though, because his portraits of the king and queen were used by Waterlow, on their 1937 coronation issue for Southern Rhodesia. Furthermore, the king’s portrait was also used for the new definitive set for Southern Georgia, also issued in 1937. The latter shows more of the king’s uniform than the original master die did, so either the original die has been extended, or a completely new engraving has been executed. Whatever his thoughts on having his omnibus engraving rejected, Harrison was 'vindicated' in the end, because the king was very much taken with his two portraits as used on the Southern Rhodesia stamps. In fact, when the king was asked to approve the New Zealand Coronation issue, which made use of the same portaits, though engraved by someone else, the king replied that he didn't mind the issue, as long as the superior portrait engravings of Harrrison's were used! The king did not get his way, though, because of time limitations, and had to approve the existing engraving in the end.
The die proof archives of Waterlow & Sons show that Harrison engraved three portraits of King George VI, which were filed under St. Helena, but it is not clear whether any of these were used for the actual definitive series of 1938.
The year after, Harrison's engravings of the Great Britain King George VI high values were issued. Work on those had started in January 1939, with Harrison being in frequent touch with the designers to suggest alterations to the designs. Those with Bellew, the designer of the 10s and £1 values, have been documented and show Harrison negotiating changes to the background of the oval (making it less dense) and balancing out the word POSTAGE with the value figures. In their turn, especially Dulac, the designer of the 2s6d and 5s values, asked for changes in the engraved die, wanting to have the king's cheek made lighter and a white patch removed in the king's hair.
After both master die and colour proofs of both designs had been approved, printing plates were made but proofs pulled from those yielded a dull printing. It turned out that the transfer of the master die to the printing plates had led to a loss of depth, which could only be resolved by deepening the engraving on the master die. Unfortunately, Harrison had just had an accident and was in hospital and therefore not able to carry out the re-engraving of his die. But as time was ticking and the actual head of the king needed no work done, the printers gave the work to another engraver of theirs.
John Augustus Charles Harrison probably passed away in January 1955, though many sources have him pass away in 1954.
You will find John Augustus Charlers Harrison's database HERE.
A little later, Harrison decided to go back to Waterlow & Sons, where he became their master portrait engraver.
In 1924, Harrison engraved the stamp issued to promote the British Empire Exhibition. Only one master die was engraved with the value of three halfpence. This master die was used for the other value as well and it was also used for both values of the subsequent 1925 issue. Unfortunately, the 1924 dies, which included the master die, have not survived but the 1925 auxiliary dies have. An official reprint of the 1925 one penny proof was used on a souvenir sheet to mark the 1975 British Philatelic Exhibition.
At the time Harrison was asked to engrave the 1929 £1 Postal Union Congress stamp for Britain, he was still employed by Waterlow & Sons. The printing contract, however, had been given to Bradbury, Wilkinson, but only on the condition that the £1 stamp would be engraved by Harrison. Special permission was granted by Waterlow to let Harrison engrave this particular stamp. The head of King George V was actually taken from the master die of the British Seahorses stamps of 1913. Although proofs were made with sixteen colours, the stamp was eventually printed in black, to sharpen the contrast and accentuate the darker parts of the engraving.
It is not certain who engraved the dies for the 1934 pictorial definitive set for British Guiana, but the name of Harrison appears in the Waterlow & Sons index against these values, so it is presumed he was responsible for these excellent engravings.
In 1936, Harrison engraved a small vignette of the portrait of King Edward VIII, which Waterlow & Sons were going to use on their forthcoming colonial definitive sets. The abdication of the king brought that project to an end but Harrison was subsequently involved in another aborted project of Waterlow’s: the 1937 Coronation issue.
Harrison engraved a die of the omnibus design, but his work was not accepted. Waterlow then withdrew citing ‘prior commitments’. Harrison’s work was not totally in vain though, because his portraits of the king and queen were used by Waterlow, on their 1937 coronation issue for Southern Rhodesia. Furthermore, the king’s portrait was also used for the new definitive set for Southern Georgia, also issued in 1937. The latter shows more of the king’s uniform than the original master die did, so either the original die has been extended, or a completely new engraving has been executed. Whatever his thoughts on having his omnibus engraving rejected, Harrison was 'vindicated' in the end, because the king was very much taken with his two portraits as used on the Southern Rhodesia stamps. In fact, when the king was asked to approve the New Zealand Coronation issue, which made use of the same portaits, though engraved by someone else, the king replied that he didn't mind the issue, as long as the superior portrait engravings of Harrrison's were used! The king did not get his way, though, because of time limitations, and had to approve the existing engraving in the end.
The die proof archives of Waterlow & Sons show that Harrison engraved three portraits of King George VI, which were filed under St. Helena, but it is not clear whether any of these were used for the actual definitive series of 1938.
After both master die and colour proofs of both designs had been approved, printing plates were made but proofs pulled from those yielded a dull printing. It turned out that the transfer of the master die to the printing plates had led to a loss of depth, which could only be resolved by deepening the engraving on the master die. Unfortunately, Harrison had just had an accident and was in hospital and therefore not able to carry out the re-engraving of his die. But as time was ticking and the actual head of the king needed no work done, the printers gave the work to another engraver of theirs.
John Augustus Charles Harrison probably passed away in January 1955, though many sources have him pass away in 1954.
You will find John Augustus Charlers Harrison's database HERE.