BIOGRAPHY: John Francis Eugene Prud'homme

John Francis Eugene Prud’homme was born in Saint Thomas, one of the US Virgin Islands, in 1800, but only seven years later the family would emigrate to the United States. Prud’homme was only 14 when he became the apprentice of his brother-in-law Thomas Gimbrede who was an engraver. Fast forward another seven years and we find Prud’homme established under his own name as an engraver of books and journals, especially noted for his superb portraits.

This led to him becoming a banknote engraver in the early 1850s, first for a private firm and later for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Prud’homme’s name has also been linked to the odd Nova Scotia stamp issue. Information is scant but apparently he retouched Charles Kennedy Burt’s portrait of Queen Victoria on the 1860 definitives before moving on to engrave the frame of the 1863 definitives. His only ‘complete’ stamp engraving, as far as is known, was the 1c definitive issued in New Brunswick in 1860, depicting a locomotive.

In 1885 Prud’homme retitred but he remained active as a private engraver until his death in 1892, at one stage earning the accolade of being the oldest living American engraver.

You will find John Francis Eugene Prud'homme's database HERE.