Charles Edmund Brock was born in London and lived the rest of his life in Cambridge, a member of a family of illustrators which included his two brothers, Henry Matthew and Richard Henry Brock. He studied at the Cambridge School of Art and at the studio of the sculptor, Henry Wiles. His first illustrations were done in the early 1890’s and continued almost until the end of his life. Many of his commissions were for the literary classics such as works by Dickens, Jane Austen etcetera and he also illustrated various magazines and periodicals like The Pall Mall, The Quiver, The Graphic and many others. He was also a portrait and genre painter and was elected RI in 1908. Ref: Ian Rogerson: The Brocks. Manchester 1985. Peppin/Micklethwait: 1894. Houfe:1978.