Tattoo History - Tom Riley

Tom Riley's father was a soldier and Riley followed in his fathers footsteps and pursued a career in the military. He possessed the ability to draw which he took advantage of when he had to tattoo thousands of regiment emblems and other military motives on his comrades during the boer war.

After leaving the army Riley became an established tattoo master in London and was known all over England. His american cousin Samuel O'Reilly was also a successful tattoo artist in New York and invented the first electro mechanical tattoo machine in 1891. Therefore Tom was the first british tattoo artist to worked with the tattoo machine of his cousin instead of the traditional tatauing methods of the native tribes. He was on top of all british tattoo artists in no time. With over 17.000 customers, 2.500 of them were women, he was the most occupied tattoo artist of the late 19th century.

Riley owes his actual popularity not to the thousands of traditional tattoos he did but to his disposition to spectacular appearances. One of the most original performances was the full body tattoo of an Indian buffalo which he decorated for over three weeks in the Hippodrome in Paris in 1904.

back to tattoo history