Thomas Morten

Thomas Morten (1836–1866) was an English painter and book illustrator.

Life
Thomas Morten was born on 27 March 1836 at Uxbridge, Middlesex. He came to London and studied at the painting school kept by J. Mathews Leigh in Newman Street. Morten was chiefly employed as an illustrator of books and serials, mostly of a humorous nature. The most successful were his illustrations to an edition of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, published in 1864, which ran into several editions. Morten also practised as a painter of domestic subjects, and was an occasional exhibitor at the Royal Academy, sending in 1866 Pleading for the Prisoner. His affairs, however, became embarrassed, and he committed suicide on 23 September 1866.