Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton (1865–1927), often called J. R. Skelton, was a prolific English illustrator, working in
watercolour and
oils among other media.
Life
He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1865, son of Thomas Simpson Skelton and Sarah Knott; he was the fourth of six children. His father had been a bookbinder but became a photographer and photographic printer, moving to
South Mimms, Middlesex by 1881. He married Violet G. Hastie in
Richmond, Surrey in 1912.[1]