Bill The Minder by W. Heath Robinson
When you say the name W. Heath Robinson to most people, if they know anything about him they will say he is a book illustrator, and then, most likely, will remember him for his humorous depiction of war machines during the First World War, but there is so much more to the man.
William Heath Robinson comes from a family of illustrators along with his brothers Thomas Heath Robinson and Charles Robinson. They all earned a living from their illustrations, taking after their father, Thomas Robinson, who worked for the Illustrated London News. However William did not initially intend to go into book illustration as his ambition was to become a landscape painter, but the need for an income soon made him choose book illustration as a career. He established himself very quickly and illustrated classic books including; The Arabian Nights, (1899); Tales From Shakespeare (1902);Twelfth Night (1908); Andersen's Fairy Tales (1913); A Midsummer Night's Dream (1914); The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley (1915); and Peacock Pie by Walter de la Mare (1916).
However, less well-known are W. Heath Robinson's children's books which he both wrote and illustrated, starting withThe Adventures of Uncle Lubin in1902 and then Bill The Minder in 1912. These are also regarded as the beginning of his career in the depiction of those unlikely and ingenious machines for which he became famous.
Well, a few days ago I picked up a copy of Bill The Minder for the first time and started reading it. I was happy to find that Bill The Minder is what I call a baby-sitter, rather than my modern day interpretation of a Minder being a bodyguard. The book starts with a description of Bill's Uncle Crispin the mushroom gatherer, his Aunt Chloe and their ten children - Chad, Hannibal, Quentin, Randal, Noah, Ratchett, Nero, Biddulph, Knut and Boadicea. Only one of the children is good tempered with the rest resembling Crispin and his bad temper. One day Crispin becomes ill and gradually deteriorates which requires Chloe to care for him full time and thus the need for a minder for the children arises. The test which Chloe sets for the prospective minder, to find out if they are suitable, is to look after Chad who is teething with all his double teeth coming through at the same time! When no-one succeeds Chloe sends for her nephew Bill as a last resort. It is not Bill's chosen profession, however, we soon learn that he has a hidden talent:
"No one had suspected Bill of having the makings of a good minder in him, but it happened that he knew Chad's little ways, and so, to everybody's surprise and relief, he easily succeeded in keeping him quiet until all the double teeth had been cut."
Bill soon proves so good at his job that no one else in the whole district would let any other minder look after their children..... So ends the first chapter of Bill The Minder. The book then goes on to tell of the adventures of Bill, Crispin, Chloe and the ten children as they meet kings, presidents, sailors, soldiers and others as they travel around the world.
During the 1980s Bill The Minder was made into a television series for ITV with fifteen episodes being created, but - let's go back to the book. There are various editions of this book and nearly all of them contain Heath Robinson's sixteen wonderful colour plates in addition to his delightfully simple but so descriptive and slightly humorous line drawings which add so much to the story. The book was originally published in 1912 by Constable and Company Ltd, and then from the 1920s onwards published by Hodder and Stoughton with the early editions having tipped-in plates. This book would make an excellent addition to any collection of children's books for many reasons, not least the superb illustrations.
(Published on 4th Dec 2014 )
