Robert Gillmor

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Robert Gillmor MBE (6 July 1936 – 8 May 2022) was a British wildlife artist, illustrator, author and editor. He co-founded the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) and served as its secretary, chairman and president. He contributed to more than 100 books and won many awards.

Born in Reading, England, Gillmor studied at Leighton Park School and the University of Reading’s School of Fine Art. He had his first illustrations published at 16 in British Birds, and as a student he illustrated his first book, A Study of Blackbirds. He taught art at Leighton Park for six years before becoming a full-time wildlife artist in 1965.

As a boy he joined the Reading Ornithological Club and later became its life president. He worked in many media, including line drawing, watercolour, lino-cuts and silk screen. After his first book in 1958, his work appeared in more than 100 books. He moved to Norfolk in 1998, which inspired more lino-cuts.

Gillmor was an active ornithologist and sat on the councils of the RSPB, the British Ornithologists’ Union and the British Trust for Ornithology. He designed the first RSPB Avocet logo. He was a long-time member and former president of the Reading Guild of Artists.

With Eric Ennion, he founded the SWLA in the early 1960s and led the group for many years. He also helped promote past artists like Charles Tunnicliffe and his grandfather Allen W. Seaby, who inspired his love of printmaking.

In 2011 and 2012 he created lino-cuts for four sets of Royal Mail stamps. He designed the Dilys Breese Medal for the British Trust for Ornithology, first awarded in 2009. A retrospective of his work was shown at Reading Museum in 2011–2012.

In 2015 he was made an MBE for services to wildlife art. Other awards include the RSPB Medal (2001) and the Union Medal of the British Ornithologists’ Union (1997).

Gillmor died on 8 May 2022, aged 85. He is survived by his wife, Susan, whom he married in 1974, and their children Emily (also a wildlife artist) and Thomas.