Mr John Kelway Castle, MRPharmS, of 16a Fox Hill, Crystal Palace, London SE19 2UU, died suddenly on September 29. Mr Castle was well known as an artist whose illustrations have appeared regularly in The Pharmaceutical Journal. A native of New Zealand, Mr Castle registered as a pharmacist in Britain in 1988.
John Castle was born in 1936 with both pharmacy and art in his blood. His father was a third-generation pharmacist and his mother was from an artistic family, the Daniells, whose best known members, William and Thomas Daniell, were active at the turn of the 18th century. John's uncle, George Daniell, had taught at the Royal Academy of Arts.
After an apprenticeship in hospital pharmacy and some pharmaceutical research, John Castle joined his father's pharmacy business and then took it over. He expanded the business, but also extended his activities into other areas, including designer gift shops, charity work and running a local newspaper. When his original artwork in his window displays attracted the attention of a publishing house, the result was a contract to write and illustrate a children's book. This was followed by a range of books on cities and regions in New Zealand. Their success led him to sell his businesses in 1970 and make a living from his artistic talents from then onwards.
After several years painting and exhibiting in various parts of the world, he settled in Britain in 1984. He took on commissions for paintings and drawings from a wide range of businesses and organisations, including an airline, a French newspaper, department stores and a Paris perfume house. He even worked for the American government, which gave him a grant to produce a collection of illustrations on American cities, American musicians and the Mississippi river. His published work included ‘Royal occasions', a large volume which gave a personal view - in words and watercolours - of events in and around the Royal palaces of London and Windsor.
In 1991 he contributed to the "Pharmacist in art" exhibition organised by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society as part of its sesquicentenary celebrations. One of the paintings he exhibited, showing the Society's former headquarters in Bloomsbury Square, was purchased by the Society and made available to the members as a limited edition print. He subsequently executed a number of commissions for various pharmaceutical bodies and individual pharmacists.
From early in 1994, John Castle produced a weekly line drawing to illustrate The Journal's "Onlooker" page. At intervals he was also commissioned - sometimes at very short notice - to produce watercolour paintings for The Journal's cover or to illustrate articles. A cover illustration intended for this week's Journal was still unfinished when he died.
The funeral was at Beckenham crematorium on October 6. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and The Pharmaceutical Journal were represented by Mr Douglas Simpson (editor of The Journal and editorial director of PJ Publications).
Mr DOUGLAS SIMPSON (editor of The Pharmaceutical Journal) writes: I first came to know John Castle after the Pharmacists in Art exhibition staged by the Society as part of its sesquicentenary celebrations (PJ, June 22, 1991, p776). It was not long before we were using his skills as a draughtsman and as a watercolourist within the pages of The Journal. His background as a pharmacist meant that he was very easy to work with and had an unmatchable understanding of our needs. His work has greatly enhanced The Journal and its sister publications.
We had a habit, from time to time, of prevailing rather too much on John's good nature, asking him to meet very tight deadlines. But he never let us down, and the drawing or the painting was always ready, somehow or other.
Over the years, John became a friend as well as a contributor. A former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine has suggested that perhaps an editor should have no friends (NEJM, May 27, p1672). Friendship, according to him, might compromise the impartiality to which editors should aspire. But a person without friends must surely lack humanity, another essential attribute for an editor. Editors must have friends. And if they have friends like John Castle they are truly blessed.