His main inspiration was a French painting of the same name (in French, L'homme à la houe) by Jean-François Millet.
In May 1855, he left for the Crimean War, in which he served firstly with his battalion, then from July 1855 as aide-de-camp to the commander of the 2nd Division, Lieutenant-General Edwin Markham, and finally from November 1855 as deputy assistant quartermaster general on the staff at Headquarters, being promoted brevet Major.
Some of Westerleigh's earliest residents excelled in letters, including Isaac Funk, co-founder of Funk and Wagnalls, and poet Edwin Markham.
Edwin Lutyens | Edwin Booth | Markham | Markham, Ontario | Edwin M. Stanton | Edwin Starr | Edwin of Northumbria | Edwin Hubble | Edwin Franko Goldman | John Edwin Sandys | Markham River | Edwin Edwards | Edwin Bidwell Wilson | Edwin A. McAlpin | Beryl Markham | Violet Markham | The Mystery of Edwin Drood | Edwin Torres | Edwin (musician) | Edwin Markham | Edwin Lankester | Edwin Forrest | Edwin Catmull | Edwin Abbott Abbott | Edwin | Petra Markham | Frederic Edwin Church | Edwin Santibáñez | Edwin Muir | Edwin Mellen Press |
Famous writers who have contributed to the magazine include Somerset Maugham, Edwin Markham, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Frances Parkinson Keyes, A. J. Cronin, Virginia Woolf, and Evelyn Waugh.