William Monk was a painter and topographical printmaker, born in Chester. He studied at the Antwerp Royal Academy, Belgium. His architectural views included locations such as London, New York, Eton, Winchester and Durham. Monk was elected an Associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in 1894 and a full member in 1899. He was a prolific exhibitor showing at the Grosvenor Gallery, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, International Society of Sculptors, Painters & Gravers, Walker Art Gallery, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, Royal Academy of Arts and Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. He was also a member of the Society of Graver-Printmakers in Colour and acted as Vice-President shortly before his death.
Examples of his work are held in the collections of the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and the Imperial War Museum. He is best remembered for his annual 'Calendarium Londinense' (The London Almanack) which contained a 12-month calendar with one of Monk's engravings of the capital. Monk left London in 1933 and returned to his native Chester where he died 4 years later. In 2013, the 150th anniversary of the artist's birth was marked at the city's Grosvenor Museum with the exhibition 'A Vision of England: Etchings by William Monk'.
