English artist Charles Haslewood Shannon was BOTD in 1863. Born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a vicar, he studied at the Lincoln School of Art before moving to London in 1882 to study wood engraving at the Lambeth School of Art. There, he met fellow student Charles Ricketts, who became his lover, life companion and artistic collaborator. After completing their studies, Shannon took a teaching position at an art school, while Ricketts worked as a commercial illustrator. In 1888, they founded the Vale Press in the former home of artist James Whistler, publishing over 75 books with their own woodcut illustrations, including Oscar Wilde’s short works A House of Pomegranates and The Sphinx. Shannon’s frequent affairs with women put strain on his relationship with Ricketts, but they remained together, becoming well-known in London society and befriending celebrity homosexuals including Wilde, Lord Alfred Douglas and Aubrey Beardsley. After a fire in 1904, they closed the press, shifted their focus to paintings and sculpture. Together, they amassed a collection of European Old Masters, Greek and Roman antiquities and newly-fashionable Japanese art. After a decade studying Venetian painters, Shannon achieved success with his portraits and figure compositions, winning a gold medal at the Annual Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1897 and joining the Royal Academy of Arts. In 1929, he fell while hanging a picture at their home and suffered brain damage, effectively ending his career. Ricketts became his full-time carer, selling some of their art collection to pay for nursing care, until his sudden death in 1931. Shannon lived for a further six years, dying in 1937 aged 73. His works are now displayed in London’s National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Academy of Arts, the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum. His life with Ricketts was portrayed in Michael MacLennan’s 2003 play Last Romantics.