Henry Alken (1785 – 1851) was born in Soho, Westminster. He was an English engraver and painter chiefly known as an illustrator and caricaturist of coaching scenes and sporting subjects. Alken was baptized at St James's Church, Piccadilly on 6 November. His most prolific period of drawing and painting occurred between 1816 and 1831. He was the third son of a sporting artist called Samuel Alken. Two of his brothers were also artists. Alken first studied under his father and then with John Barber Thomas Beaumont, the miniature painter who was also known as J. T. Barber. In 1801, he sent a little portrait of Miss Gubbins to the Royal Academy Exhibition. This was received warmly by the participants. He exhibited a second painting at the Royal Academy. After this he abandoned miniature painting and took on illustrating and painting.
From about 1816 onwards, he produced several engravings, drawings and paintings. Alken worked in both watercolor and oil and his earliest productions were published anonymously under someone else’s signature, but in 1816 he issued the first painting under his own name. Alken provided the plates picturing racing, steeplechasing, coaching, and hunting for The National Sports of Great Britain. Alken is best remembered for his hunting prints, many of which he engraved himself. Alken died in 1851 and was buried at his daughter's expense in Highgate cemetery. He fell on hard times towards the end of his life. Today, he’s is best known as perhaps one of the most collected series of sporting prints of all time.
