Samuel Begg ( 1854 - 1936)

Begg was born in London 1854 but spent much of his life in New Zealand after his parents emigrated to Napier in 1860. 
In the early 1870s, he was working as an assistant surveyor for a firm of engineers at Eketahuna when he made the decision to follow a career as an artist. After submitting illustrations to local papers in New Zealand, including the Auckland Weekly Herald and the Illustrated Australian News in Melbourne, he moved to Europe here he attended art school in Paris. In 1894, he was engaged by The Illustrated London News to join the paper and Begg remained there for the next 25 years during which time he established himself as one of the principal “black and white” men and covered numerous major events as a special artist.