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Mind The Gap! Underground mapmakers revealed...

Mind The Gap! Underground mapmakers revealed...

It’s time for another crack at revealing the lives of the designers who made early Underground maps. We know so much about Harry Beck and MacDonald Gill, and so little about almost everyone else… It has been a while (longer than I thought) since I delved into the life and times of Fred Stingemore so this is long overdue. One day I hope to find a way of putting names to the teams of (currently) anonymous draughtsmen who worked ‘in house’ for the printing companies regularly commissioned by the Underground Group and its predecessors, such as Edward Stanford Ltd, WJ Adams & Sons, Waterlow & Sons, Johnston, Riddle & Co, Dangerfield Printing Co, George Philip & Son and David Allen & Sons. For now, though, let’s look at three names which we do have. These names appear on maps which are well-known but normally catalogued (by me and everyone else, including the Transport Museum) with surname and initials as given, without further elucidation: W.E. Soar; J.C. Betts; E.G. Perman. Who were they?

William Edward Soar (1854-1912) may be the earliest credited designer of Underground maps. His name appears on most maps produced by the District Railway from 1880 until his death. He was described as ‘an indefatigable member of the staff of the District Railway, makes it a labour of love to bring this excellent map “up to date”’ (Penny Illustrated Paper, 23 August 1890). We happen to have one of his maps inscribed ’from the author’, the only example of an Underground map with a presentation inscription I’ve seen, so a ‘labour of love’ sounds about right. It puts him at the head of a longstanding London Underground tradition of allowing employees with bees in their bonnets to design official maps in their spare time, including Harold Hutchison (publicity), Paul Garbutt (planning) and Harry Beck himself (engineering draughtsman). William Soar was described as a railway clerk on the 1871 census, when he was aged 16. He rose to become the District Railway’s Traffic Manager, and by 1906 its General Manager, answerable only to the Chairman and Board of Directors.

The District Railway Map of London, 5th edition 1892

William Soar was born on 28 September 1854 and baptised on 22 October 1854 at Paddington, Middlesex. His father, John, was a coachman. At the time of his death he lived in West Hill, Putney; Putney Bridge was one of the District Line’s termini from 1880, and East Putney station (more convenient for his daily commute) was opened in 1889 (the Putney Bridge to Wimbledon extension is included as an inset on some of his maps, such as the one we’ve illustrated above). The West London Observer (3 January 1913) reported that he died suddenly at Stoke Poges on Boxing Day 1912 whilst on a visit; he was buried on 31 December at Wandsworth, aged 58.

J.C. Betts and E.G. Perman represent the other strand of Underground map-making policy: hiring established commercial artists and graphic designers such as MacDonald Gill and Hans Schleger. Jack Charles Betts (1896-1960) produced a black and white pictorial plan of the British Empire Exhibition for its second season (May-October 1925), and an elegant tube map of the central area issued in Winter 1924/5 and Summer 1925.

What to see and how to travel: Map of the Electric Railways of London by J.C. Betts, Summer 1925 issue

According to Artist Biographies, Jack Betts studied design and calligraphy at the Royal College of Art under Robert Anning Bell and Edward Johnston; excellent credentials for anyone wanting to work for the Underground Group, and one wonders if there was any overlap with the circles Gill moved in (although Gill was a dozen years his senior and had studied under Johnston at Central). Betts was one of the founder members of the Clement Dane Studio, an agency which developed a longstanding relationship with London Transport, although I can find no indication that he designed any further maps for them. In August 1925, while his map of the central area was still being given away at stations, Betts married fellow graphic artist Constance Castle (1902-1966) at Liversedge in Yorkshire, where her parents lived in Duxbury Hall. The wedding was announced in the Yorkshire Post and the Bath Chronicle (the groom’s hometown) and the honeymoon was spent in France and Italy. It all sounds pleasantly prosperous.

Edgar George Perman (1875-1955) designed a single, delightful, portrait format passenger map of the Underground, which was issued 1928-29.

What to see in London, and how to get there by E.G. Perman, December 1928 issue

The style of the lines, stations and interchanges follows the series of maps created by Fred Stingemore, while the calligraphy is influenced by MacDonald Gill. Perman’s map is aimed at the visitor to London: major roads, parks and other recreational spaces are shown within the context of the Underground network, and a numbered key identifies sites of historical interest, museums and galleries, churches and other public buildings. Fred Stingemore’s trifold maps were in circulation at exactly the same time, with all the surface topography stripped away. Stingemore’s maps may have been aimed at the commuter, Perman’s encourages leisure travel. In the same year he produced a double royal poster ‘All the sights of London, by Underground’, and he also designed some advertising material (possibly including ‘antique style’ route maps) for Shell. An update will be forthcoming when I spot one.

Artist Biographies notes that he was born in Ealing, died in Kew, studied at Westminster School of Art in the 1890s and was active as a commercial artist in the 1920s, but for such a competent artist he does not seem to have amassed a vast body of work. And what happened after 1929? In the 1930s the London-based firm EG Perman and Co was an energetic promoter of the ‘Flying Flea’, a light aircraft which was intended by its French inventor to become the Model T Ford of the air. If anyone can demonstrate that our EG Perman abandoned the world of fine art in his fifties to promote air travel for all (including his own version of the Flying Flea, the Perman Parasol) I shall be thrilled. It would certainly be the most exotic explanation for why there were no more maps.

See All London Underground Maps
This blog was first published on a different platform. The original comments are reproduced below:
Mike Lavan:

Hi – great post! The Perman tube map is a favourite of mine (I’ve got it framed in my hallway) so you inspired me to do a bit of digging to see whether the Perman Parasol / Flying Flea was linked.

I’ve had a look in Ancestry.com – Edgar George Perman was born in West London on 12 December 1874, and lived at 64 Gloucester Road, Kew, from the 1920s, up until his death on 9 January 1955. The 1939 Register, taken at the start of the Second World War, lists Perman as a “Commercial artist”. There are also a number of records for his business addresses throughout the ’20s and’ 30s, and all of them are in the region of High Holborn / Chancery Lane.

You may have seen the Flying Flea advert online which gives a 1936 address for EG Perman & Co at Brownlow Mews, off Gray’s Inn Road – I couldn’t find a corresponding 1936 entry in Ancestry.com, but there is one from 1937 which shows our tube map designer being based at Brownlow House, 50 High Holborn (his residential address in Kew is also shown in this entry to tie it back). So, whilst there could be two different EG Permans working in the same part of London during the 1930s, on the balance of probabilities I’d be pretty confident that it’s one and the same person!

Hope that helps, and do let me know if you’d be interested in seeing the records from Ancestry that I’ve mentioned above.

Cheers

Mike

PS. Please excuse the odd hour for my reply, I’ve been up trying to get my 9 month old back to sleep and your post was an interesting read while I was rocking him back & forth!

Quick update: I’ve now found a Flying Flea advert online from July 1936, which lists the 50 High Holborn address for EG Perman & Co, so that clinches it, same guy! Link below:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=eg+perman+flying+flea&prmd=ivn&sxsrf=ALeKk024n8IzcgApDDVnLUwtY8bx13IgUQ:1588755303668&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo_onc7p7pAhWklFwKHQRbAWEQ_AUoAXoECAwQAQ&biw=360&bih=632&dpr=4#imgrc=-vGzvvqab2rdvM

Tim Bryars:

Hello Mike, first of all I’m glad the blog was of service, and I hope everyone got to sleep in the end! Thank you for clearing up Perman’s dates (Artist Biographies gave 1875, but your 12 December 1874 sounds correct; please could you confirm which record Ancestry was citing? Birth certificate, for example?) I am really thrilled, just as I said I would be, that you’ve been able to demonstrate that EG Perman map-maker and EG Perman light aircraft enthusiast and manufacturer are one and the same. I thought it vanishingly unlikely there were two EG Permans in London at the same time, but one never knows for sure unless you can demonstrate that they shared an address, as you have done. Just for completeness, what source was Ancestry citing which linked EG Perman of Kew with Brownlow House, 50 High Holborn? A directory?

Hopefully more of Perman’s later artwork will come to light. This is one instance where art-related earnings may have been the steadiest part of his income. The 1935-36 ‘Flea Craze’ seems to have come to an abrupt halt in the UK after a number of fatal accidents. Online sources suggest that Perman built between 9 and 11 machines, although I don’t know if that includes his improved variant, the Parasol, but there seems to have been just one of those: Perman Parasol G-ADZX, flown by test pilot Arthur Edmond Clouston in May 1936 and also referred to as the Clouston Midget and Perman Grasshopper. He also seems to have developed his own hybrid engine, the Ford-Perman. I’ve bought a copy of Clouston’s 1954 autobiography, ‘The Dangerous Skies’ in case it contains further clues. Let me know if you discover anything else!

– Tim

Mike Lavan:

Hi Tim – yes, the Flying Flea sounds like a lethal contraption from what I was reading around it this morning!

To answer your questions, Perman’s date of birth comes from his 1939 Register entry, and his 1937 address at 50 High Holborn (linked to his residential address at 64 Gloucester Road, Kew) comes from the 1937 Electoral Register.

I’ve also found various entries from the Post Office’s City Directories (1925, 1930 and 1934) listing his previous workplace at 3 Pemberton Row, EC4, where he would have been working at the time he did his tube map and poster. Other parties at the same address include: Pemberton Press, publishers; Red Lion Press Ltd, printers; George Risdon, lithographer; Sewell Thomas & Co, printers; and Leonard Caton, press illustrator. Not sure if any of those names would be helpful in further research of his work (I’m assuming they worked together) but they might provide a further lead…?

Tim Bryars:

That’s brilliant Mike, thank you again! I hope you look at the map in your hallway afresh. I feel we know Mr Perman a lot better already. Cheers, Tim.

Gina Perman:

This is brilliant – I’ve been researching the Perman family tree on behalf of my husband for a number of years, and both EG Perman commercial artist and EG Perman & Co. have come up before (my husband is an Associate Member of the Guild of Aviation Artists and someone made the link with the surname a couple of years ago). This morning I’ve been trying to see if there is a link between artist and Flying Flea and I’d come to the same conclusion as Mike above, but from different circumstantial evidence! The 1930 Richmond, Kew, Petersham and Ham Directory records a second person at Edgar’s address – Samuel Blasby, Builder (Cumberland Works). Cumberland Works, Weybridge is still at the heart of aviation- related manufacturing so I think with Mike’s findings it’s pretty conclusive.

Tim Bryars:

Thanks Gina, it’s great to hear from you and I’m glad the post (and Mike’s comments!) have been useful. Did you see our latest post ‘Still minding the gap’? I’ve been looking into some of Edgar Perman’s artwork. Do you happen to know of any other examples, and do you by any chance have a photograph of him?

Gina Perman:

To add to my above comment, it’s probably worth pointing out that EG Perman came from a family of engineers – so not such a leap from graphic design as it might seem!

Unfortunately I don’t yet know much more about him, but certainly if any photos do turn up I’ll forward them to you. The blog is really informative, thank you.

Tim Bryars:

Thanks Gina,

I can’t yet add much to our June 9 ‘still minding the gap’ post, but you are welcome to what I have. I understand that Edgar Perman’s dad was a GWR stationmaster when he was born, but by 1891 he was traffic superintendent of government railways, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and he helped build the northern extension of the Ceylon Railway (reports in Indian Engineering vol 31, 1902 and The Railway Engineer vol 20, 1899).

Perman’s younger brother Archibald spent time with his father in Sri Lanka (according to his obituary in ‘The Engineer’, vol. 187, 1949). He set up the engineering firm ‘Perman and Co, Ltd’, 82 Fenchurch Street, ‘ a firm principally associated with the introduction of the Kromhout marine oil engine into this country’. This something to do with hot-bulb engines, and if you look that up on wikipedia you’ll know as much as I do!

I n 1915, Edgar Perman was employed by a firm of advertising artists at 2 – 3 Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, E.C. The Post Office Directory shows that this is Henry Long, Advertising Artists. The 1911 census indicates that he worked for employers but also worked for himself (freelance, then). I worked my way down the list of advertising agents until I found the people with the appropriate address. I haven’t yet called up his will, but I’m sure that will contain useful information.

Please keep us posted with your research – I’d love to hear more.

Filed in: Category_Maps blogging, London underground
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