Sheila Rose

Bibliography -

Illustrated by Sheila Rose

 

Pamela MacGregor Morris:  Not Such a Bad Summer

Latimer House, London, 1950

 

Josephine Pullein-Thompson: Pony Club Team

Collins, London, 1950

 

Joanna Cannan:  I Wrote a Pony Book

Collins, London, 1950

 

Diana Pullein-Thompson:  A Pony for Sale

Collins, London, 1951

 

Josephine Pullein-Thompson: The Radney Riding Club

Collins, London, 1951

 

Olivia Fitz Roy: Wandering Star

Collins, London, 1953

 

Diana Pullein-Thompson: Janet Must Ride

Collins,London, 1953

 

Josephine Pullein-Thompson:  One Day Event

Collins, London, 1954

 

Diana Pullein-Thompson:  Horses at Home & Friends Must Part

Collins, London, 1954

 

Veronica Westlake: The Unwilling Intruders

Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1954

 

M E Atkinson:  Riders and Raids

Bodley Head, London, 1955

 

M E Atkinson:  Unexpected Adventure
Bodley Head, London, 1955

 

Josephine Pullein-Thompson:  Show Jumping Secret

Collins, London, 1955

 

Christine Pulleiln-Thompson:  Phantom Horse

Collins, London, 1955

 

Christine Pullein-Thompson:  A Day to Go Hunting

Collins, London, 1956

 

Gillian Baxter:  Horses and Heather

Warne, 1956

 

Diana Pullein-Thompson: Riding with the Lyntons

Collins, London, 1956

 

Christine Pullein-Thompson: The First Rosette

Burke, London, 1956

 

Veronica Westlake: The Mug’s Game

Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1956

 

Josephine Pullein-Thompson:  Pony Club Camp

Collins, London, 1957

 

Joanna Cannan:  Gaze at the Moon

Collins, London, 1957

 

Marguerite Henry: King of the Wind

Constable, London, 1957

 

Lady Kitty Ritson: Tessa to the Rescue

Nelson, London, 1957

 

Christine Pullein-Thompson:  Stolen Ponies

Collins, London, 1957

 

M E Atkinson:  Horseshoes and Handlebars

Bodley Head, London, 1958

 

Christine Pullein-Thompson:  The Second Mount

Burke, London, 1957

 

Christine Pullein-Thompson: Three to Ride

Burke, London, 1958

 

Anna Sewell:  Black Beauty

Blackie, London, 1958

 

Zita White: The One Day Ponies
Lutterworth, London, 1958

 

Mona Sandler: Steep Farm Stables

Country Life, London, 1958

 

Josephine Pullein-Thompson: The Trick Jumpers

Collins, London, 1958

 

Joan Houston: Jump Shy

Heinemann, London, 1959

 

Monica Edwards:  Killer Dog

Collins, London, 1959

 

Primrose Cumming:  Flying Horseman

Dent, London, 1959

 

Zita White: Ride Across the Ocean

Lutterworth, London, 1959

 

Elizabeth Waud: Easter Meeting

Harrap, London, 1959

 

Christine Pullein-Thompson: The Lost Pony

Burke, London, 1959

 

Constance M White: Ponies at Westways

Collins, London, 1959 (Cover)

 

Christine Pullein-Thompson : Ride By Night

Collins, London, 1960

 

Christine Pullein-Thompson:  The Horse Sale

Collins, London, 1960

 

Patricia Leitch: To Save a Pony

Hutchinson, London, 1960

 

Patience McElwee: The Merrythoughts

Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1960

 

Lady Kitty Ritson: Tessa and the Rannoch Dude Ranch

Nelson, London, 1961

 

Sheila Chapman:  Ride for Freedom

Burke, London, 1961

 

Josephine Pullein-Thompson:  All Change
Ernest Benn, London, 1961

 

Frank Bernard: Broncho-Busters

W R Chambers, Edinburgh, 1961

 

Dorian Williams: Wendy Wins Her Spurs

Burke, London, 1962

 

Elinore Havers: Pony Hunt

Max Parrish, London, 1963

 

Primrose Cumming:  The Mystery Trek

Dent, London, 1964

 

Judith M Berrisford: Sue’s TV Pony

Hutchinson, London, 1964

 

H M Peel: Jago

Harrap, London, 1966

 

Margaret MacPherson: Ponies for Hire

Collins, London, 1967

 

 

Sheila Rose (1929 - 1968?) was born in Bishop’s Stortford on September 26th, 1929, and was educated at Hitchin Grammar School and Harrogate College.  She started riding her own ponies, and drawing them, when she was four, and, according to her entry in Who’s Who in the Pony Magazine Annual 1968, “competed at all shows in Hertfordshire between 1940 and 1945.”  Allowing for the fact it was wartime, when there were less shows than normal, that still shows formidable determination, especially as she also found time to hunt with the Puckeridge and South Herts.  

 

She illustrated her first book in 1948, and had done over 80 by 1968, as well as either writing or illustrating various articles (the entry is ambiguous here:  I haven’t yet been able to find any articles she wrote but there is a lot of equine writing out there buried in journals which I haven’t necessarily seen.)  Sheila Rose enjoyed music, books, photography, racing, theatres and languages.  She liked all animals, travelling, good coffee (bearing in mind when this entry was written, this is not surprising:  finding proper coffee as opposed to flavourless ditchwater was pretty difficult in 1960s Britain), sleeping, swimming and sailing.  She disliked, she said “English women who tramp around the Continent in tweed skirts and brogues.”

 

I don’t know whether Sheila Rose is still alive:  for whatever reason, I can find nothing illustrated by her after 1967.  She was in the Pony Magazine Annual Who’s Who in 1968, but not in 1969, so it does look very much as if she had died by the time that annual was issued (1968).

 

Sheila Rose was one of those very rare creatures who could draw both animals and people.  I have always been very fond of her drawings, and reproduced to the right is one of my favourites, her depiction of Olga in Christine Pullein-Thompson’s The Horse Sale.  She was particularly good, I think at portraying horses and ponies jumping.  The example below is from Mona Sandler’s Steep Farm Stables.

 

Most of the books Sheila Rose illustrated can be found reasonably easily:  obviously it depends on how sought after the author is as to how much you will pay!  Jago is probably the hardest title to find, and the Josephine Pullein-Thompsons and Joan Houston’s Jump Shy will be on the pricey side.  The easiest titles to collect are the Burke printings of Christine Pullein-Thompson’s David and Pat series, starting with The First Rosette.

 

Sources:

Pony Club Magazine Annuals 1962-1968