Horace Harral

Horace Downey Harral was a British wood-engraver, etcher and photographer. He was a pupil of John Orrin Smith and later joined him as a partner in an engraving firm. Harral produced prints of many Pre-Raphaelite paintings and also illustrated many British periodicals of the mid-Victorian era. He engraved Robert Howlett's photograph Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern, one of the most famous and finest of the 19th century, for publication in the Illustrated Times in 1858. Harral also produced etchings and photographs. He is noted for an 1860s series of theatrically posed photographs of his friends. Harral once shared an office with William Luson Thomas and was later a significant shareholder in his company, which published The Graphic newspaper. Harral died a wealthy man and left the bulk of his estate to charity.