Henderson, John

About the artist

Name

Henderson, John

Biography

John Henderson was the son of John Henderson, a journeyman cabinetmaker and Alexina Storrie. John was the eldest of six children and in 1913, his mother, by then a widow, emigrated to Canada with five of her children, leaving John behind. By this time, John had married Janet (called Jennie) Robb Somerville and had two children. He was also already employed at the Edinburgh Evening News having started there as a linotype operator in 1905. Jennie was the daughter of a printer compositor and her mother Margaret Whyte Somerville had been a newsagent and shopkeeper at 81 Pleasance.

Prior to joining the Edinburgh Evening News John Henderson had worked for book printers and also as a linotype operator in various parts of Scotland including Shetland and Dumfries. He much preferred the bustle of a daily newspaper. He became the overseer of the busy Evening News case room during the 1940s.

He was a keen amateur photographer who did his own developing and printing. He was also a keen traveler and because his wife would not leave Scotland, he began taking his only grandson Bill (who eventually became an Evening News and United News Agency journalist) on trips abroad. Their first, in 1938, when Bill was age 10, was to Grindelwald in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. Their annual trips were interrupted by World War II but Bill remained a keen traveler for the rest of his life.

John Henderson retired from the Evening News in 1947.

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