Cowley Burnand, Francis

29 November 1836

21 April 1917

Francis Cowley Burnand was educated at Eton College and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Law and founded the Cambridge Amateur Dramatic Club, which runs to this day and has had amongst its members many well-known actors. Burnand was for a short time an amateur actor, a barrister and then a comic illustrator. However he is mostly known for his comic writing and his work as editor. In his lifetime Burnand wrote over 200 pantomimes, farces, burlesque, as well as serious plays and numerous books. Burnand collaborated with Punch for the whole length of his career, contributing illustrations and writing articles, keeping a column in the magazine and later becoming its editor. In this role, which he held for over twenty years, he transformed the magazine making it a national institution and for this he received knighthood in 1902. Burnand married Cecilia Victoria Ranoe and, at her death remarried, Rosina Ranoe , his late wife’s sister; altogether he had thirteen children. He was a member of the Garrick Club from 1915.