Savile Lumley

SAVILE LUMLEY

by

Robert J. Kirkpatrick

Savile Lumley was a prolific and versatile illustrator whose career spanned some 55 years. He contributed to numerous periodicals, mainly children’s story papers, and he illustrated over 150 children’s books, published for a variety of ages.

He was born on 18 February 1876, and baptized on 3 May 1876 at All Saints Church, St. John’s Wood, London. His father was Henry Robert Lumley (1821-1899), a newspaper proprietor and former editor of The Court Journal, who had married Blanche Day Plum (1839-1913), the daughter of Thomas William Plum, a former clerk to the Poor Law Guardians in Camberwell, on 9 July 1863 at St. Saviour’s Church, South Hampstead. Henry was a widow, and had had at least two children from his first marriage, Henry (born in 1844) and Phoebe (born in 1845). He went on to have five children with Blanche, the first four all born in St. John’s Wood: Ralph Robert (baptized on 17 May 1865; Lyulph (baptized on 8 April 1868; Savile; and Osbert (baptized on 20 March 1878). Throughout this time, the family had been living at Marlborough Place, St. John’s Wood, but by the time of the 1881 census they had moved to Calcot Grange, Tilehurst, Berkshire, where a fifth child, Edgar, was born in 1881. Henry was clearly very wealthy, as he was employing no fewer than six servants – a cook, parlour maid, nurse, housemaid, kitchen maid and footman.

(There may well have been a family link to the Earls of Scarborough – the 9th Earl of Scarborough was Richard George Savile-Lumley (1813-1884), and amongst his children were Lyulph Richard Granby William Lumley (born 1850, died 1868) and Osbert Victor George Athling Lumley (born 1862, died 1923), which might explain Henry’s choice of first names for his children. On the other hand, Henry would have been well aware of the family through his editorship of The Court Journal, and may simply have chosen the names as he liked them. It is also worth noting that Henry wrote novels and plays under the pseudonym “Lyulph.”)

In 1885, the family moved back to London, to 81 Avenue Road, Hampstead (where again Henry was employing six servants). This enabled Savile Lumley to study at the Royal Academy of Arts, which he attended between July 1893 and July 1898 (although he does not appear to have ever exhibited there). For a while he shared a studio in St. John’s Wood with George Loraine Stampa (1875-1951), who went on to become a well-known cartoonist.

Lumley’s career as an illustrator began while he was still a student, with some cartoons published in Sketchy Bits (published by Charles Shurey). Over the following ten years or so he went on to contribute to a small number of periodicals, including The Tatler, The Lady’s Pictorial, The Bystander, Printers’ Pie, The Windsor Magazine and The Boy’s Own Paper.

On 26 January 1905 he married Muriel Margaret Eidwynn Harries (born on 4 June 1883 in Malinslee, Shropshire) at All Saints Church, West Dulwich. At the time he was living at 24 Thurlow Hill, West Dulwich. The couple subsequently moved to The Elms, Dulwich Common, where their first daughter, Averil Jean, was born on 12 December 1905, and baptized on 22 February 1906 at All Saints Church. Four years later, they were living at Picardy House, Halt Robin Road, Belvedere, Erith, Kent, where their second daughter, Margaret Muriel, was born, being baptised on 5 August 1909.

In the 1911 census, Savile and Muriel Lumley were living at The Cedars, Heron Hill, Bevedere, with Lumley described as a poster designer. He had illustrated a handful of children’s books between 1900 and 1910, but he then spent the next few years producing posters, with his best-known (albeit rather notorious) work being the poster “Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?”, showing a father sitting in an armchair with his daughter on his lap, pointing at a book she is holding and looking questioningly up at him. The idea was suggested by the owner of the printing firm of Johnson, Riddle & Co., Arthur Gunn, and produced by the firm for the Parliamentary Recruiting Campaign in around March 1915. Gunn, who apparently felt guilty at not having volunteered himself, subsequently joined the Westminster Volunteers. However, the poster was seen as relying too much on emotional blackmail and became the target of a great deal of resentment, and according to the Imperial War Museum Lumley eventually disowned it.

From 1920 onward Lumley was in great demand as an illustrator. He was used by publishers such as the Pilgrim Press, Aldine Publishing Co., Oxford University Press, George G. Harrap & Co., Jarrolds, the Sheldon Press, the Epworth Press, Thomas Nelson & Sons, Sampson Low, Marston & Co. and P.R. Gawthorn (for whom he illustrated a number of re-issues of classic historical and adventure stories). Amongst the authors whose books he illustrated were Winifred Darch, May Wynne, Bessie Marchant, Christine Chaundler, Eric Wood, Richard Bird, R.A.H. Goodyear, Wingrove Willson, Charles Gilson and Anton Lind.

He also contributed to numerous annuals, published for both very young and older children – these included Nelson’s Jolly Book for Boys, Warne’s Pleasure Book for Girls, Warne’s Pleasure Book for Boys, Warne’s Happy Book for Girls, Partridge’s Children’s Annual, The Jolly Annual for Girls, The Golden Annual for Girls, The Golden Budget for Boys, The Golden Budget for Girls, The Schoolfriend Annual, Schoolgirl’s Own Annual, The Kiddie’s Annual, The Bumper Book for Children, The Best Book for Schoolgirls, The Bumper Book for Children, The Oxford Annual for Scouts, The Boys’ Budget, The Big Book for Boys, Hutchinson’s Girls’ Annual, Collins Schoolboys Annual, The British Girls Annual, Our Boys’ Gift Book, The Modern Boy’s Book of Adventure Stories, The Champion Annual, The Pip & Squeak Annual, The Companion Annual, Selfridge’s Schoolboys' Story Book, The Greyfriars Holiday Annual, The Daily Mail Annual for Boys and Girls and The Modern Book for Boys.

He also contributed illustrations to several children’s story papers, including Chatterbox, Chums, Little Folks, The Nelson Lee Library, The Scout, The Child’s Own Magazine, Young England (from 1903 until 1937), and Modern Wonder. His artwork also appeared in several numbers of Aldine’s Tales for Little People, and on the cover of titles in Aldine’s Boxing Novels and Football Novels series, and some of his cartoons were published in The Humorist.

He worked in colour, halftone, and black and white line drawings. His scope was huge, ranging from colour plates in books for very young children to illustrations of girls’ and boys’ school, historical, travel and adventure stories. In the view of Brigid Peppin and Lucy Micklethwait (in their Dictionary of British Book Illustrators) he was “a competent illustrator ... who knew his market and was well able to adapt his style for reproduction on cheap paper. He worked for both boys’ and girls’ publications, but in later years his subject treatment became increasingly static, and so less suited to action and adventure.”

Lumley remained in Beveldere until around 1920, when he moved to 55 Overstrand Mansions, Prince of Wales Road, Battersea. In the 1940s he moved to 26 The Butts, Brentford, and in 1958 he moved to The Cottage, St. Annes, Sheath Lane, Esher, Surrey. He died at the Rowley Bristow Hospital, Pyrford, Surrey, on 4 May 1960, leaving a very small estate of just £277 (£5,500 in today’s terms). His wife died on 5 October 1977.

Of Savile Lumley’s brothers, Ralph Robert became a barrister and author, and died in 1900; Lyulph became a journalist, and later editor of The Court Journal – he died in 1944; Osbert also became a journalist, and died in 1941; and Edgar became an electrical engineer, and died in 1930.

PUBLICATIONS

Books illustrated by Savile Lumley
Aunt Louisa’s Book of Fairy Tales for Little Children, Frederick Warne & Sons, 1900 (with other artists)
Vice Versa, or A Lesson to Fathers by F. Anstey, George Newnes Ltd., 1902 (re-issue) (cover)
The Other Fellow, or The Heir from the Colonies by Robert Leighton, Andrew Melrose, 1904
The Country Cousin by C.A. Mercer, Sunday School Union, 1905
For Triumph or Truth: A Tale of Thrilling Adventure by Sydney C. Grier, John F. Shaw & Co., 1904
Tom Tufton's Loyalty by Eleanora H. Stooke, Sunday School Union, 1906
Joyce and the Rambler by Amy Le Feuvre, Hodder & Stoughton, 1910
Joan Trevithick: A Story of Cornish Life by Amy Key Clarke, Pilgrim Press, 1910
A Disputed Heritage by E. Everett-Green, Pilgrim Press, 1911
Coronation Souvenir, Central London Railway, 1911
The Coming of Carlina by L.E. Tiddeman, Jarrolds, 1912
Five Years on a Training Ship by John Dearden Bush & E. T. Miller, Pilgrim Press, 1913
Agatha’s Trust, and How She Kept It by Julia Chandler, Sunday School Union, 1913 (re-issue)
‘Gainst the Might of Spain: A Story of the Days of the Great Armada by Percy F. Westerman, Pilgrim Press, 1914
The Royal Navy Painting Book. Gale & Polden, 1916
Martin Merrythought’s ABC: Written for Father and Mother and Me, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1917
The Woman of the Hill by Une Circassiene, Greening & Co., 1917
Chris and Some Others by Winifred Darch, Oxford University Press, 1920
The Mystery of Barwood Hall by Olivia Fowell, George G. Harrap & Co., 1920
Roslaeen at School by May Wynne, Cassell & Co., 1920
The Mystery of Maybury Manor by Eric Wood, Cassell & Co., 1920
Chris and Some Others by Winifred Darch, Oxford University Press, 1920
Three Real Bricks: The Adventures of Mel, Ned and Jim by T.E. Grattan-Smith, George G. Harrap, 1920
The Right St. John's by Christine Chaundler, Oxford University Press, 1920
The Young Crofters by Mrs Albert G. Latham, Oxford University Press, 1920
Our Favourite Mother Goose Book, Frederick Warne & Co., 1920(?)
The Mayflower Pioneers: The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers by Jesse Eaton Feasey, Sunday School Union, 1920 (with Algernon Black)
All About Pets: Told in Stories by Lilian Gask, George G. Harrap & Co., 1921 (with Barbara Briggs)
The Mistress of Purity Gap by Bessie Marchant, Cassell & Co., 1921
The Deputy Captain: A Public School Story by Richard Bird, Oxford University Press, 1922
The Story of a Chinese Scout by S. V. Boxer, London Missionary Society, 1922
One Years After by George R. Sims, Henry Heath Ltd., 1922
Angela Goes to School by May Wynne, Jarrold & Sons, 1922
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, Jarrolds, 1922 (re-issue)
Illustrated Easy Stories from English History by Lucy Dale, George G. Harrap & Co., 1922 (with other artists)
Bad Little Hannah by L.T. Meade, Frederick Warne & Co., 1922 (re-issue)
By Canoe to Cannibal-Land by J. H. Holmes, London Missionary Society, 1923
The Captain and the Kings by R. A. H. Goodyear, A. & C. Black, 1923
The Life of the School by R. A. H. Goodyear, Jarrolds, 1923
Betty the Scribe by Lilian Turner, Ward, Lock & Co., 1923
Gilbert the Page by Elisabeth J. Kyle, Oxford University Press, 1923
Stories of Sir Francis Drake by Rowland Walker, Aldine Publishing Co., 1923
Polly of Lady Gay Cottage by Emma C. Dowd, Jarrolds, 1923 (re-issue)
Two Tramps by Amy Le Feuvre, Oxford University Press, 1923 (re-issue)
Battle Royal School by R. A. H. Goodyear, Jarrolds, 1924
The Channel Pirate by Lawrence R. Bourne, Oxford University Press, 1924
Pat of Whitehouse. A Story of Girl Guides by Helen Beatrice Davidson, The Sheldon Press, 1924
The Cotton-wool Girl by Ethel Mary Channon, The Sheldon Press, 1924
Run Away Nursery Tales, Epworth Press, 1924
Big Adventures with Buffalo Bill edited by Wingrove Willson, Aldine Publishing Co., 1924 (with other artists)
The Bairns’ Toy Book, Epworth Press, 1924(?) (with other artists)
The School's Best Man by R. A. H. Goodyear, Jarrolds, 1925
The Raiders of the Pool, and Other Yarns by Alfred Judd, Sheldon Press, 1925
Peggy’s School Pack by H.B. Davidson, Sheldon Press, 1925
Audrey at School by F.O.H. Nash, Sheldon Press, 1925
Billy in Blunderland, The Epworth Press, 1925
Freddy’s Fireworks by various authors, John Leng & Co., 1925
Copperknob Buckland by Lawrence R. Bourne, Oxford University Press, 1925
My Very Own ABC Book, The Epworth Press, 1925
The Nursery ABC Book, Frederick Warne & Co., 1925
Scouts of the Prairie by Wingrove Willson, Aldine Publishing Co., 1925
A Prairie Schoolgirl by Alys Chatwyn, Epworth Press, 1925
See How We Go. Frederick Warne & Co., 1925
Railway Picture Book. Frederick Warne & Co 1925
Chappie and the Others by Constance Heward, Frederick Warne & Co., 1926
The Creaking Bough by Winifred Pares, Sheldon Press, 1926
Just a Tomboy by Alys Chatwyn, Epworth Press, 1926
The Old Oak Chest by Dorothy MacNulty, Frederick Warne & Co., 1926
Punch and Judy in Animal Land, The Epworth Press, 1926
Bringing Back the Frasers and Other Stories by Ethel Talbot, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1926 (with other artists)
Scouts in Buckskin by Wingrove Willson, Aldine Publishing Co., 1926 (with other artists)
The World of Sport and Adventure edited by Wingrove Willson, Aldine Publishing Co., 1926 (with other artists)
Bully, Fag and Hero, or In Playground and Schoolroom by Charles J. Mansford, Jarrolds, 1926(?) (re-issue)
Mystery Island by Percy F. Westerman, Oxford University Press, 1927
Jerry and Joan by H.B. Davidson, Sheldon Press, 1927
Francis Drake, The Sea-King of Devon by George M. Towle, George G. Harrap, 1927
Wonder Tales of Great Explorers by Robert James Finch, Aldine Publishing Co., 1927
Happy Times, Frederick Warne & Co., 1927
The Merry Men of Sherwood by various authors, Aldine Publishing Co., 1927 (with other artists)
Playtime: A Book of Short Stories for Kiddies, Amalgamated Press, 1927 (with other artists)
Winifred Avon by Mabel Marlowe, George G. Harrap & Co., 1928
Wonder Tales of Other Lands by P. Mortimer-Evans, Aldine Publishing Co., 1928
All About a Brownie by Mrs. A.C. Osborne Hann, Religious Tract Society, 1928
The Story of Jessie by Mabel Quiller-Couch, Religious Tract Society, 1928 (re-issue)
In the Clutch of the Green Hand by Frances Cowen, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1929
The Secret Station by Ellersley Hall, Oxford University Press, 1929
Chums of the North Patrol: A Naval Story of the Great War by E.L. McKeag, Aldine Publishing Co., 1929
In Pirate Waters by George Garner, Oxford University Press, 1930
A Term to Remember by May Wynne, Aldine Publishing Co., 1930
In Smugglers’ Grip and Other Stories by various authors, Epworth Press, 1930
The Joyous Adventures of Little Kumalo: A South African Story by Emiline Hale, Religious Tract Society, 1930
Adventure for Boys by various authors, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1930
Sea Slang: A Dictionary of the Old-Timer’s Expressions and Epithets by Frank C. Bowen, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1930 (with Kenneth Shoesmith)
My Travel Book by Land and Sea by G. Gibbard Jackson, Frederick Warne & Co., 1930(?) (with other artists)
Girls Together by Louise Mack, The Pilgrim Press, 1930 (re-issue)
Ernest Fairfield; or, Two Terms at St. Andrew's by A. N. Malan, Frederick Warne & Co., 1930(?) (re-issue)
Peter Lawson, Camper by H.B. Davidson, Religious Tract Society, 1931
Audrey the Sea Ranger by F.O.H. Nash, Sheldon Press, 1931
Our Pets' Picture Book, The Epworth Press, 1931
The New Nature Book for Boys and Girls, Fleetway House, 1931 (with Harry Rountree and others)
The Pendlecliffe Swimmers by Sid G. Hedges, Sheldon Press, 1931
Naval Stories of the Great War edited by Wingrove Willson, Aldine Publishing Co., 1931
The Captain’s Fags: A Story of School Life by W.E. Cule, Pilgrim Press, 1931 (re-issue)
The School’s Honour, and Other Stories by Harold Avery, Pilgrim Press, 1931 (re-issue) (with other artists)
Stolen Feathers by Dora Percy Smith, Sheldon Press, 1932
The Life of the School by R.A.H. Goodyear, Jarrolds, 1932
The Cleverest Chap in the School by Robert Leighton, Jarrolds, 1932 (?) (re-issue)
From a Cottage in Pennycook Lane by Isabel Cameron, The Religious Tract Society, 1933
Jerry Goes to Sea by Capt. K. MacLure, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1933
A Gipsy Brownie by H.B. Davidson, The “Girl’s Own Paper” Office, 1933
The White House Boys by R.A.H. Goodyear, Collins, 1933 (re-issue)
Charley Laurel: A Story of Adventure by Land and Sea by W.H.G. Kingston, National Sunday School Union, 1933 (re-issue)
A School Libel by Richard Bird, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1934
Westward in the Mermaid by Percy Woodcock, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1934
Wong the Patriot: The Adventures of a Chinese Schoolboy by Iris Corbin, Religious Tract Society, 1934
The Magic Submarine by Ernest H. Robinson, Shoe Lane Publishing Co., 1934
The City of the Sorcerer by Major Charles Gilson, Hutchinson & Co., 1934
Yarns for Boys by various authors, McCorquodale & Co., 1934
The Tales of Sir Apolo. Uganda Folklore and Proverbs by Apolo Kagwa; with an introduction by the translator F. Rowling, The Religious Tract Society, 1934
Behind the Mountains by Joseph Wray Angus Hunt, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1935
The Jubilee Book for Children, The Queensway Press, 1935
Wonder Tales of Past History by Robert James Finch, Shoe Lane Publishing Co., 1935
The Brownie Village by H.B. Davidson, The “Girl’s Own Paper” Office, 1935
Tibby of the Orange Funnel Line: The Adventures of a Ship’s Kitten by Kaye Fox, Religious Tract Society, 1935
The First Reading Book, Frederick Warne & Co., 1935
The Second Reading Book by Lorna Adamson, Frederick Warne & Co., 1935
Soldier in the Sun by Capt. E.E.G. Ponder, Stanley Paul, 1935 (with Capt. E. Oldfield)
Miss Greyshott’s Girls by Evelyn Everett-Green, Pilgrim Press, 1935 (re-issue)
Gallant Adventures, John F. Shaw & Co., 1935(?) (with other artists)
Frankie of the Wolf Cubs by Margaret Stuart, The “Boy's Own Paper,” Office, 1936
Holiday at Greystones by Phyllis Logan, George G. Harrap & Co., 1936
Win Through, Altonbury! by Anton Lind, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1936
Sunken Treasure by Percy Woodcock, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1936
Nancy Afloat by Bessie Marchant, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1936
Richenda in the Alps by F.O.H. Nash, Sheldon Press, 1936
Captain Coppernob: The Story of a Sailing Voyage by Lawrence R. Bourne, Oxford University Press, 1936
The Greyvale School Mystery by Peter Manton, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1937
Secret Service at Altonbury by Anton Lind, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1937
Tony Hits Out by Anton Lind, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1937
Sea Wrack by Percy Woodcock, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1937
The Coral Island by R.M Ballantyne, Juvenile Productions, 1937 (re-issue)
Adventure Down Channel by Percy Woodcok, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1938
Little Pets Story Book, Epworth Press, 1938(?) (with other artists)
The Well of Nonsense, Shoe Lane Publishing Co., 1938(?)
The Impossible Prefect by Hubert J. Robinson, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939
Roger’s Record Year by N. Wallingford Wells, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939
Schoolboy Stories, Blackie & Son Ltd., 1939 (with other artists)
A Treasure Box of Stories for Children by various authors, George G. Harrap & Co., 1939
Winged Venturers by Guy Dempster, Lutterworth Press, 1942
Birds in My Garden, Johnson Riddle, 1944
Fog in the Channel by Percy Woodcock, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1947
Mr Bannock: A Nonsense Story by Edgar Primrose Dickie, Hodder & Stoughton, 1947
The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat, P. R. Gawthorn, 1948 (re-issue)
The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper, P. R. Gawthorn, 1948 (re-issue)
The Young Fur-Traders by R. M. Ballantyne, P. R. Gawthorn, 1948 (re-issue)
The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson, P. R. Gawthorn, 1949 (re-issue)
The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper, P. R. Gawthorn, 1949 (re-issue)
Schoolboy Tales, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1949 (with other artists)
The World of Ice by R. M. Ballantyne, P. R. Gawthorn, 1949 (re-issue)
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, P. R. Gawthorn, 1950 (re-issue)
The Young Fur Traders by R.M. Ballantyne, P.R. Gawthorn, 1950
The Life and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, P. R. Gawthorn, 1950 (re-issue)
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, P. R. Gawthorn, 1950 (re-issue)
Brer Rabbit Stories by Joel Chandler Harris, Epworth Press, 1950 (?)

Dates not known:
Other Little Children, C.S.S.M.
Jessica’s Mother by Hesba Stretton, Religious Tract Society (dustwrapper)

Comic Cuts - 28 September 2018

In many ways I think that I'm reasonably adult in my day-to-day life. I do shopping, I pay bills, I even brush my teeth without being told to. All signs that I'm a grown up.

So why do I find it so utterly impossible to hard boil an egg?

Let's be clear, here. I'm not the world's biggest consumer of eggs and, normally, if I choose to have eggs, I can whip them up to make a very tasty scrambled egg for my toast. You can do something similar in the microwave, allowing the egg to puff up into an almost-omelette. (I say "almost" because I don't put in any butter. But you can mix in other ingredients – I've been using a lot of our small cherry tomatoes.)

Over my forty or so years as an adult you can count the number of times I've tried to make hard boiled eggs on the fingers of two hands max – possibly on the fingers of one hand – and I can say with that hand on heart that the results have never been successful. When I try, every eight to ten years, they always come out imperfect and a lot runnier than I want. Faced with this devastating disappointment, I give up for another decade until I stumble across a recipe by accident... which happened the other day. I don't know what caused this brain-spasm, but I found myself looking at a page explaining how to cook a hard boiled egg in the microwave. I thought I'd give it a try.

I followed the instructions to the letter, but it still turned into a disaster. I heated the water, pricked the eggs to stop them exploding, boiled the eggs for six minutes on half-power, let them sit for another few minutes and took them out... tapped the shell, which fell away... and the egg was uncooked. Un-bloodly-believable!

I still had two eggs, so I thought I'd stick them back in the microwave for a couple of minutes to see if that made any difference. A minute later there was a loud bang. I'd forgotten that the microwave defaults back to full power when it's stopped, and one of the eggs had exploded. At which point I gave up and rather than my much anticipated egg and bacon roll, I had a bacon roll... which was delicious because in the time I'd spent cleaning the microwave meant that the bacon had become beautifully crisped under the grill. The egg might have been a disaster, but the bacon roll was one of the best I'd ever made.

I ate my bacon roll while watching the first episode of Killing Eve, which has been getting a lot of good press. And the praise is well-deserved. I'm now half-way through and gripped. This is the second series in a row that has me looking forward so keenly to the next episode, as I managed to finish watching Bodyguard on Tuesday.

As a fan of Jed Mercurio's Line of Fire, I was expecting something tense, but I was a little worried it wouldn't live up to all the hype that has surrounded it. Well, I thought it lived up to my expectations. The death of a major character was unexpected – perhaps more who the character was rather than the death itself, although it's not the first time that's happened by a long chalk. Hitchcock did the same thing in Psycho, where audiences went in thinking that Janet Leigh would be the plucky heroine whose survival led to the capture of the mystery killer, and Spooks pulled off the same trick in episode two by killing off one of the main characters introduced in the first episode. Once you've shown that anything can happen, your characters are in genuine peril for their lives.

I can't have been the only person watching who thought that, during the uncharacteristically happy ending, the car was going to blow up.

Going back to Killing Eve, I was thinking about why I like this so much. It has all the tropes of a fairly typical spy drama, although in this case it is an international assassin who is being hunted, but the characters are just so much more colourful. Men in grey suits are replaced by women in fluffy pink dresses and dialogue about tradecraft is replaced with actual conversations. Even in the best spy dramas (such as the recent Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy adaptation with Gary Oldman) the characters are ciphers; you cannot say that of the brilliant but way out of her depth Eve (Sandra Oh) or the sociopathic, steely-eyed Villanelle (Jodie Comer).

When I began writing this I thought I'd have another bash at making a hard boiled egg. I did them on the hob, boiled 'em for ten minutes and... well, you can see the results below.  I feel very grown up!

Some random scans...

Rebellion Releases (2000AD)

Rebellion releases for 26 September 2018.

2000AD Prog 2100
Cover: George Perez
A brand-new roster of stories start in the bumper Prog 2100! Judge Dredd finds a secret hidden beneath the rubble in “Unearthed”; cop Bridget Kurtis goes undercover to investigate cult behaviour in Brink: High Society; a new dispatch from the vampires-at-war saga Fiends of the Eastern Front in “1812,” as the action moves to the Napoleonic Wars; Skip Tracer Nolan Blake enters his brother’s mind in “Legion”; and Kingdom returns in “Alpha and Omega” as Gene the Hackman crashes back to Earth, pursued by the Masters. Plus much more!
JUDGE DREDD: THE SMALL HOUSE by Rob Williams (w) Henry Flint (a) Chris Blythe (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BRINK: HIGH SOCIETY by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
SKIP TRACER: LEGION by James Peaty (w) Colin MacNeil (a) Dylan Teague (c) Ellie De Ville (l)
ANDERSON, PSI DIVISION: DEATH'S DARK ANGELS by Alan Grant (w) Jake Lynch (a) Simon Bowland (l)
SINISTER DEXTER: TIGHT GROUPING by Dan Abnett (w) Steve Yeowell (a) John Charles (c) Ellie De Ville (l)
FIENDS OF THE EASTERN FRONT: 1812 by Ian Edginton (w) Dave Taylor (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
KINGDOM: ALPHA AND OMEGA by Dan Abnett (w) Richard Elson (a) Abigail Bulmer (c) Ellie De Ville (l)

Dredd: Final Judgement #1 by Arthur Wyatt and Alex De Campi & Henry Flint
Cover: Jock
The comic-book sequel to the cult movie DREDD reaches its epic final story with the clash that fans have been waiting for – Judge Dredd versus Judge Death!
     Mega-City One, the cusp of the 22nd century. Eight hundred million people are living in the ruin of the old world, a planet devastated by atomic war. Only one thing fighting for order in a metropolis teetering on the brink of chaos – the men and women of the Hall of Justice. One such lawman is Judge Joe Dredd, who is about to be confronted with his strangest and most challenging case yet.
     Dredd: Final Judgement brings the comic book tie-ins to Alex Garland’s DREDD movie to a close with a story that will shatter the lawman’s world! Scripted by Arthur Wyatt and Alex De Campi, and illustrated by Henry Flint, this two-issue mini-series features exclusive covers by Jock.

Sniper Elite #2 by Keith Richardson & Patrick Goddard
Cover: Patrick Goddard / Quinton Winter (colours)
Based on the global bestselling videogame, Sniper Elite: Resistance is the brand new comic book from Rebellion.
    This high-octane three-issue US-format mini-series is written by Keith Richardson and has art from Patrick Goddard
    Sniper Elite: Resistance is an adrenaline-fuelled thrill-ride set during the darkest days of World War Two - a sure fire hit for gamers and comic book readers alike!
    In occupied France, Allied Special Operations Executive hero Karl Fairburne parachutes into the town of Angouleme in a bid to stop the shipment of a new German anti-aircraft weapon - the situation is more complex, and dangerous, than he could ever have imagined.

Jack Cunningham (1922-2018)

Jack Cunningham, art editor and designer on many IPC comics during the 1970s and 1980s, died following a severe stroke on 5 August 2018, aged 95.

Photo: Fraser Gray

Born John Davis Cunningham in Scotland on 17 December 1922, Jack worked for an advertising agency in Glasgow before moving to London in the mid-1950s. After working in a number of jobs in advertising and film titling, he went for an interview with Pat Halls at Newnes. Although he had no magazine experience, he was hired on the strength of his portfolio and began working at the company’s Tower House office on Southampton Street, overlooking Covent Garden. Some of his earliest work appeared in the confessions magazine True Stories, and various pop magazines.

When various publishing operations were merged to create IPC Magazines, Jack was moved to the women’s group, which also included a number of girls’ comics. He worked on Princess Tina, Valentine and Mirabelle in the 1970s, moving to Fleetway’s juvenile division shortly before the latter folded in 1977. There he worked with Mirabelle’s former editor, Malcolm Shaw, on a new mystery comic, which emerged in 1978 as Misty. “Jack designed all the story titles and logos that appeared in Misty, and devised the moon and bat cover logo,” says Julia Round. “He also hand-lettered the weekly greeting from Misty herself that appeared on each inside cover – giving it a personal air and greater flexibility to fit the space available. Jack’s contributions helped develop Misty’s character by sparking elements such as her bat messengers and the Cavern of Dreams.”

Following the demise of Misty in 1980, Jack worked on the development of the New Eagle and became the layout artist for the photo stories that were the mainstay of the early issues. He was pictured in a feature on the creation of the new paper in Eagle Annual 1983 working on a rough for the cover of the first issue.

Jack lived in the same house in Orpington, Kent, for over fifty years. His wife, Agnes (Nancy), died within a couple of weeks of him and the two were buried together. They are survived by three of their four children.

Julia Round's tribute to Cunningham can  be found at Down the Tubes.

W Bryce Hamilton

W. BRYCE HAMILTON

by

Robert J. Kirkpatrick

W. Bryce Hamilton was possibly best-known for his work as a Sexton Blake artist for the Amalgamated Press in the 1950s. He had earlier been a popular artist for the illustrated newspaper The Sphere, producing several colour covers in the 1920s, and he also illustrated around 30 children’s books between 1921 and 1953. His early life, however, is something of a mystery.

He was born on 28 October 1894, probably at 54 Lyme Street, Manchester and baptized, as William Bryce Hamilton (the baptism record gave his second name as “Brice”) on 24 March 1895 at St. Paul’s Church, Brunswick Street, Manchester. Little is known about his father, James Hamilton, who was a designer when William was born and a former ship’s engineer, born in Scotland in around 1857. His mother, Emily Elizabeth, was born on 24 July 1862 in Manchester, although again nothing else is known about her.  There appears to be no trace of the family in either the 1901 and 1911 census records, both in England and Scotland.

It is not known where Bryce Hamilton was educated, although he studied art at the Glasgow School of Art.  He first appeared as an illustrator in 1921, when he provided the frontispiece for a school story, Margery Finds Herself, by Doris Pocock and published by Blackie & Son. (The title page erroneously gives the illustrator as H. Coller). In 1923, he illustrated an adventure story by D.H. Parry, “Deathless Dynasty”, for Chums, and in 1924 he illustrated the first of several girls’ stories for Thomas Nelson & Sons. He went on illustrate twelve more books for Blackie & Son, as well as handful of books for other publishers. Most of the books he illustrated were girls’ stories, by authors such as Kathleen Rhodes, Evelyn Everett Green, Ethel Talbot, Geraldine Mockler, Jane Paterson Milne, Dorita Fairlie Bruce and Rita Coatts. Amongst the few boys’ stories he illustrated were a re-issue of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, Ralph Arnold’s On Secret Service, and a re-issue of Skelton Kuppord’s school story Hammond’s Hard Lines.

He also contributed to a number of children’s annuals between around 1928 and 1940, including Blackie & Sons’ The Girls’ Budget, The Boys’ Book of School Stories, Blackie’s Children’s Annual and The Prize Budget for Girls, and Oxford University Press’s The Oxford Annual for Boys, The Oxford Annual for Girls, The Big Book of School Stories for Boys and The Splendid Book for Girls.

Meanwhile, in 1924 he had begun a long association, lasting until 1941, with The Sphere, providing illustrations for stories and of social and sporting events, including many colour illustrations both for inside the magazine and on the cover. Other periodicals to which he sporadically contributed were The Graphic, The Bystander, and Mine.

Hamilton lived for a few years in the 1920s in Maida Vale, London, firstly at 10 Randolph Road and then at 125 Maida Vale. He returned to Manchester in 1929 when he married Margaret (“Maggie”) Winifred Burroughs, a dressmaker born on 7 November 1883 in Manchester and the daughter of Joseph Beaumont Burroughs, a shopkeeper, and his wife Martha Alice. They lived at 125 Maida Vale until around 1933, moving to 149 Maida Vale and then, in 1937, to 37A Abercorn Place, Marylebone, where they remained until Hamilton’s death in 1955. (He was recorded as an “Artist Illustrator” in the 1939 Register, living there with his wife and widowed mother.)

In around 1949 Hamilton began working for the Amalgamated Press (he had earlier illustrated the series “Dane the Dog Detective in Chips in the 1930s). One of his first works was for the comic strip “The Three Musketeers: The Adventure of the Iron Mask” in Knockout (reprinted as the first number of Thriller Comics in 1951, with a different ending – in the original strip the Musketeers all died, but this was changed so that they could appear in further stories). He went on to draw for The Comet, Cowboy Comics Library, Super Detective Library and The School Friend. He also produced the cover for the first, and only, issue of the Australian comic library Captain Flame in 1949. In December 1953 he became the main artist of Knockout’s Sexton Blake stories, going on to produce 80 strips until his death 18 months later, which occurred at his home in Abercorn Place on 26 May 1955. He left an estate valued at £2,207. His wife died at Tooting Bec, Wandsworth, on 3 December 1963, leaving just £250.

Hamilton’s artistic legacy is not exactly huge, although it may be that he did a lot of work which was uncredited (it is known, for example, that he produced paintings for posters and advertisements, and that he painted in oils). This may explain why he was ignored by the major reference books, other than Alan Clark’s Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors (1998). He may not have been a brilliant illustrator, but he was fairly versatile, and able to change his style to suit his audience, and perhaps more worthy of recognition than his neglect suggests.

PUBLICATIONS

Books illustrated by W. Bryce Hamilton
Margery Finds Herself by Doris Alice Pocock, Blackie & Son, 1921
Young Felix by Frank Swinnerton, Hutchinson & Co., 1923 (dustwrapper)
At the Sign of the Windmill by Ierne L. Plunket, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1924
Mollie Hazeldene’s Schooldays by Maude S. Forsey, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1924
The Head of the House by Kathleen Rhodes, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1924
The Adventures of Ulysses by Cecily M. Rutley, E.J. Arnold, 1924
Esther’s Charge by Evelyn Everett Green, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1924 (re-issue) (dustwrapper)
Patsey at School by Pamela Hinkson, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1925
Patricia, Prefect by Ethel Talbot, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1925
Christal’s Adventure by Alice M. Chesterton, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1925 (dustwrapper)
Jake’s Birthday Present by Geraldine Mockler, Blackie & Son, 1925 (re-issue)
The Wild Bird by Margaret Stuart Lane, Oxford University Press, 1926
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, Blackie & Son, 1926 (re-issue)
Carol’s Second Term by Ethel Talbot, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1928
Lifting the Cloud by W.P. Shervil, Oxford University Press, 1928
Margery Merton’s Girlhood by Alice Corkran, Blackie & Son, 1928 (re-issue) (dustwrapper)
The Wolf Runner by E.E. Cowper, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1929
On Secret Service by Ralph Arnold, Blackie & Son, 1935
Harriet G. at St. Hilary’s by Jane Paterson Milne, Blackie & Son, 1936
Sidney Seeks Her Fortune by Catherine Mary Christian, Blackie & Son, 1937
The Mysterious Term at Merlands by Jane Paterson Milne, Blackie & Son, 1937
Prior’s Island by Marjorie Taylor, Blackie & Son, 1939
The Holiday They Didn’t Want! By Laurie Munro, Blackie & Son, 1940
Dimsie Carries On by Dorita Fairlie Bruce, Oxford University Press, 1941
Hammond’s Hard Lines by Skelton Kuppord, Blackie & Son, 1941 (re-issue)
The Triumphs of Three by Bessie Comfort, Blackie & Son, 1942
Margery Finds Herself by Doris Alice Pocock, Blackie & Son, 1942(?) (re-issue)
Demon Island:  A Tale by Cecil R. Baldock, George Newnes Ltd., 1946
Little Miss Pinch by Catherine Buckle, E.J. Arnold & Son, 1948
Lots of Pluck by Rita Coatts, W. & R Chambers, 1948
A Madcap Brownie by Sibyl B. Owsley, Blackie & Son, 1953 (re-issue)
The Lost Galleon: A Story of the Times of George I by C. Bernard Rutley, (1950s)
Attic Tales by Alfred Dunning, E.J. Arnold (1950s) (re-issue)
Some Legends of Greece and Rome, E.J. Arnold & Son, (?)

Comic Cuts - 21 September 2018

After a couple of weeks of mostly pottering along post-Iron Mask, I've found my writing mojo again and I'm hard at work at another Forgotten Authors essay. I picked up a book by Alfred Duggan on Saturday, a historical novelist who had previously crossed  my path as a contributor to Look and Learn. I'd written a 400-word biographical sketch as part of my research into the history of the paper and between that and the biography on the back of the book – a Penguin paperback of Knight With Armour, which also has a photo of Duggan – I thought I'd do some digging while Mel was off at a show over the weekend.

Yes, as usual I've managed to wander down plenty of sideroads during the past few days while I've been delving into his family history. Without spoiling the eventual article that I'm in the process of writing, my internet browser history for this morning includes a variety of Wikipedia entries for contemporaries at Eton; the Eton Register; searches relating to Hackwood Park, Tattershall Castle, Bodiam Castle; searches relating to Duggan's step-sisters, including the history of the British Union of Fascists and various websites about Oswald Mosley to try and confirm rumours about his stepsisters (one of whom was Mrs. Mosley) and his mum.

There are always endless little searches for dates and places with this kind of research. It doesn't always go quite so dark, quite so quickly. My next few paragraphs are about alcoholism and Evelyn Waugh before I head into Mosley's political history. Hopefully it'll be a fun read at the end.

For lighter entertainment I've been watching Iron Fist, the latest Netflix series set in their Marvel TV shows. Over the past three years they've kept up an incredibly high standard – the first series of Daredevil was absolutely gripping and they've barely put a foot wrong since. I think it's the general consensus that of the six different shows (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher, Iron Fist and the team-up show The Defenders), Iron Fist had the softest debut. It wasn't well liked. The best bits were being done better in other shows and perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that a programme involving zen meditation, channeling chi and stillness might lack momentum.

Well, the second series has solved some of those problems. There's more action spread over fewer episodes (10 rather than 13) and the approval rating has leapt (it's #1 in the Rotten Tomatoes chart for what they call the Sophomore Bump – how much better Season 2 has done over Season 1). It's not perfect (Danny is still an arse and Colleen should dump him; Danny's step-brother and step-sister suck the life out of any room they enter), but it's getting there. The best thing about the show: Colleen and NYPD detective Misty Knight working together. The screen really lit up when those two were together. And Alice Eve as Mary Walker made a fantastic villain... far more interesting than the one-note Davos.

We've almost reached the end of season two and therefore the end of the entirety of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, the BBC America series that ran for a total of 18 episodes. A far more creditable run than the pilot from 2010 and three episodes in 2012 managed by the BBC4 series with Stephen Mangan. The story itself seemed OK, but Mangan's Dirk was a cunning, nasty piece of work. For the new series he's played by Samuel Barnett with a mixture of confusion, naivete, bluster and blind confidence, added to a bit of wilful ignorance and leading from the back on occasions... but you don't get the impression that he's nasty.

The shows, like the novels, were deliberately obscure, building up onion-like layers out of weird details that, as the story progressed, could be peeled away. That the show only attracted a quarter of a million viewers doesn't surprise me. How do you promote a show like that in America?  It's the thing the guy who did Hitchhikers did that's not Hitchhikers. It's like comparing the popularity of Professor Challenger to the popularity of Sherlock Holmes.

Random scans are today quite random... just some scans of books I've picked up over the past few months that don't fit into any of the cover galleries I have here at Bear Alley.

Commando 5159-5162

Brand new Commandos are out today! Uncover a plot to assassinate Churchill, seek out Germans in American clothing, fly high in a gyrocopter with Danger Doyle, and take down tanks with the French Resistance!

5159: Target: Churchill
In 1605, Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators crept into the cellars under Parliament with a plot to blow up the British government.
    More than three-hundred years later, in 1943, a group of German spies led by the fanatic Hauptmann Harald Stein had the same idea. Following Guy Fawkes’ example, their plan was to blow up Churchill and the British government. Their target: Westminster.

Story: Iain McLaughlin
Art: Rezzonico
Inks: Morhain
Cover: Neil Roberts

5160: Bogus Yanks
“ACHTUNG! Wanted, for Top Secret mission behind enemy lines, men who can speak English with a strong American accent, expert in all types of weapons and unarmed combat. Tough, reliable, ruthless.”
    That notice went round all the crack German Army units. The Nazis got their volunteers, just a handful. They dressed that handful in Yankee uniform and parachuted them behind British and American lines to sabotage the Allied advance.
    But they didn’t reckon on a British sergeant who just hated Yanks!

Story: Powell
Art: CT Rigby
Cover| Ken Barr
Originally Commando No. 305 (January 1968).

5161: Danger on the Rocks
After the illuminating events in ‘Danger in the Dark’, Ulysses “Danger” Doyle was delighted to hear that the head of secret intelligence office “Omega”, Basil Copper, would be joining himself and Ned Finch personally on their next mission.
    But as Danger flew through the air on an ancient rope ladder, dangling precariously over an unexploded rocket on the back of a lorry, he contemplated how he had quite got into this mess in the first place…

Story: Stephen Walsh
Art: Keith Page
Cover: Janek Matysiak

5162: Clip His Wings!
Bill Thornton was a spotter pilot, working as the eyes of the artillery, and for the military planners masterminding the advance across France towards Germany in the closing stages of the war. So take away his plane, clip his wings, and he would be almost useless?
    No, not Bill. He was looking for the first action to cross his path… and that would not be long in coming

Story: Heptonstall
Art: CT Rigby
Cover: Ian Kennedy
Originally Commando No. 2872 (July 1995).

Rebellion Releases (2000AD)

Rebellion releases for 18-20 September 2018.

2000AD Prog 2099
Cover: Karl Richardson
JUDGE DREDD: THE BOOTH CONSPIRACY by TC Eglington (w) Staz Johnson (a) Abigail Bulmer (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
SURVIVAL GEEKS: SLACK N' HASH by Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby (w) Neil Googe (a) Gary Caldwell (c) Ellie De Ville (l)
MECHASTOPHELES: TRUE FAITH by Gordon Rennie, Lawrence Rennie (w) Karl Richardson (a) Simon Bowland (l)
FUTURE SHOCKS: TALK'S CHEAP by Mark McCann (w) Adam Brown (a) Ellie De Ville (l)
THE ORDER: THE NEW WORLD by Kek-W (w) John Burns (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)

Judge Dredd Megazine 400
Cover: David Millgate
JUDGE DREDD: THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY by John Wagner (w) Henry Flint (a) Chris Blythe (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
LAWLESS: ASHES TO ASHES by Dan Abnett () Phil Winslade (a) Ellie De Ville (l)
BLUNT II by TC Eglington (w) Boo Cook (a) Simon Bowland (l)
DEVLIN WAUGH: CALL ME BY THY NAME by Ales Kot (w) Mike Dowling (a) Quinton Winter (c) Simon Bowland (l)
STORM WARNING: OVER MY DEAD BODY by John Reppion, Leah Moore (w), Jimmy Broxton (a)
THE DARK JUDGES: THE TORTURE GARDEN by John Wagner (w) Nick Percival (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
ANDERSON, PSI DIVISION: JORDAN RAMZY by Alan Grant (w) Inaki Miracnda (a) Eva De La Cruz (c) Ellie De Ville (l)
Interviews: Alan Hebden, Steve MacManus, Andy Diggle, Ian Gibson, David Bishop, Alan Barnes, John Tomlinson
Bagged reprint: First Shots - first Dredd stories by key new generation artists including Staz Johnson, Tan Eng Haut, Ianki Miranda, Sam Hart, Len O'Grady, PJ Holden.

The Ballad of Halo Jones Volume 3
Rebellion 978-1781-08637-7, 18 September 2018, 98pp, £9.99 / $9.99. Available via Amazon.
Her dreams of escape dashed, Halo has ended up on a decaying ghostworld, where the drink is the only thing that hasn't run dry. Having drifted from one dead-end job to another, her credits and hopes for the future have almost run out, but fortunately, the military is looking for new recruits. With no other way out, she enlists. This third volume concludes Alan Moore and Ian Gibson’s masterwork, coloured for the first time by Barbara Nosenzo.

Misty Volume 3
Rebellion ISBN 978-1781-18651-3, 20 September 2018 [10 Oct US], 98pp, £13.99 / $16.99. Available via Amazon.
The third collection in the popular reprints of stories from Misty, the supernatural horror comic for girls! A baby girl is rescued by a wolf, after her parents are killed in a car crash. Having only recently lost a cub herself, the wolf adopts the girl as one of her own. Two years later, soldiers on a military exercise find the child and bring her back to civilisation. Now in her early teens, the girl (called Lona) discovers her wild origin from her adopted parents. As Lona's bestial nature starts to resurface, she finds herself increasingly alone and at odds with the world around her!

Misty Volume 3

The third Rebellion collection from the pages of the 1980s girls' horror comic Misty breaks ranks with the previous two volumes by carrying only one serial story compared to the previous two. However, this makes sense as the volume has more of a thematic basis for its contents. I'll take this opportunity to say that this review contains a couple of spoilers.

You'll guess the theme from the title of the lead serial, "Wolf Girl". This long (62-page) lead story concerns a young girl who has been raised by a wolf since she was a baby. She was discovered by the grieving wolf, whose cub had been killed by hunters, wrapped in a shawl on the road, a car crash having killed her parents on a remote mountain road in eastern Europe. The child survives for two years in the wolf's company before soldiers discover her and return her to an orphanage in England.

Years later, and unaware of her adoption, Lona Williams is now a schoolgirl living in the quiet village of Woodvale suffering from uncertainty and anxiety about herself and her life. On her way to school, bullies try to take her lunch money and she instinctively reacts, growling and snarling at them until they run. Back at home, she overhears her parents discussing her adoption and that she was raised by a wolf... and now she fears grow even greater: "That's why I've behaved so strangely lately! That's why you've been so worried for me! The instincts of a wolf have been buried in my mind all these years – but now they're taking over!"

Feral wolf children are a fictional staple dating back to Roman legend (Romulus & Remus), while the most famous modern examples of children raised by animals would probably be Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli (The Jungle Book) and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan. There have also been real cases of children living amongst wild animals – 21st century examples being the discovery of a "Mowgli Boy" named Traian, who spent years living in the forests of Transylvania before being reunited with his mother, and Andrei Tolstyk, who was raised by a dog in remote Sibera for seven years.

In "Wolf Girl", Lona begins suffering memory lapses, which convinces her that everything she does is a throwback to her early upbringing and, somehow, she is turning into a wolf. Her mum puts this worry down to normal "teenage blues" that every girl goes through, and the Williams family set off for Scotland for a holiday. Lona, feeling more out of place than ever, runs off and encourages her "inner wolf" by releasing six real wolves from a wildlife park.

Now faced with an army of hunters trying to kill the wolves, Lona also has to battle the pack leader of the wolves for dominance.

On the surface, the story is of the "daft but entertaining" variety, saved from silliness by the convincing realism of the art by Eduardo Feito. However, it could be argued that the story isn't about wolves at all and that, through the medium of a Gothic-style horror yarn, we are watching Lona emerge from childhood to womanhood and, eventually, motherhood. The core of the story is the mystery "Is Lona turning into a wolf?" Not in the werewolf sense, but in the sense of having been trained from near birth to act like a wolf. There are hints that she might be a superheroine: her ability to control (most) wolves, her sackcloth clothing forming a rudimentary costume and cape, and the title of the strip giving her a name... Wolf Girl. Certainly the story has a darkness to it that lifts it out of the ordinary.

The short stories are a mixed bunch. "Poor Jenny" and "The Curse of the Wolf" are both variations on the werewolf legend; "Twin Catastrophes" is another story of a girl raised by wolves (drawn by Enrique Badia Romero, of "Modesty Blaise" fame, rather than his brother as the book credits, I believe) but with a werewolf twist; and "Wolfsbane" (which is by Jorge Badia Romero) has a girl run from a werewolf only to find herself in the paws of another attacker.

Of the four, the third is probably my favourite as it has a genuine Hammer horror setting – the lonely chateau, horse drawn carriages, girls in bonnets, the works! – although the last runs it a close second.

Misty Vol. 3: Wolf Girl & Other Stories by Eduardo Feito, Jordi Badia Romero et al. Rebellion ISBN 9781781086513, 20 September 2018, £13.99. Available via Amazon.

Step Back in Time - Wivenhoe 100 years ago

"Step Back in Time" was a walk along the High Street put on by the Wivenhoe History Group. Various locations were highlighted and little placards offered details about the past history of many of the buildings along the road. The High Street is the heart of the old town, so it included the butchers, bakers, grocers, chemist and everything else you would expect to see that have, for the most part, been replaced by the Co-Op at the top of the High Street.

I took a few snaps as I walked down the road today but, unfortunately, it was mid-day and I found myself shooting into the sun, so I gave up with buildings after a few shots. There were a lot of cars around, too, so I might wait for a quiet Sunday and do a little walking tour of my own.

You can find historical images and a guide and map at the Wivenhoe's History website.

W Lindsay Cable

W. LINDSAY CABLE

by

Robert J. Kirkpatrick

W. Lindsay Cable is best-remembered today for illustrating several of Enid Blyton’s girls’ school stories, including her St. Clare’s series. He also illustrated several books by Rita Coatts, and several boys’ adventure stories.

Some sources, for example Brigid Peppin’s and Lucy Micklethwait’s Dictionary of British Book Illustrators – The Twentieth Century (1983), have referred to Lindsay Cable as a woman: “Illustrator, mainly of girls’ school stories, in pen and ink, brush and ink and pencil. Initially, her work was rather reminiscent of fashion plates, but by the 1940s it had become more independent in style, employing a good range of textures and shading.” Taking his cue from this Alan Horne, in The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators (1994) also refers to Lindsay Cable as being female. Both sources were wrong.

W. Lindsay Cable was born on 30 March 1900 in Lochee, Forfarshire, Scotland, and christened William Lindsay Cable. His father, Thomas Cable, was a cabinet-maker and undertaker, who had married Mary Ann Mortimer, a milliner, in Lochee on 2 March 1888. They had five children: Thomas (born in 1889 – he went on to become a well-known comedian in Scotland), Mary Black (born in 1890), John Mortimer (born in 1897, died aged just 4 days), William, and Annie Ogilvie (1903), all born in Lochee. At the time of the 1901 census, the family was living at 67 High Street, Lochee; ten years later they were at 142 Albert Street, Dundee.

Cable developed his artistic talent during a boyhood illness, teaching himself to draw and paint in oils and watercolours. After leaving school he worked for The Dundee Advertiser and The Dundee Peoples’ Journal, providing cartoons and sketches. He subsequently moved to London, where (according to an obituary in The Dundee Courier in 1949) he opened a studio which he maintained for ten years. Unfortunately, it is not known where this was, although it is known that between 1928 and 1936 Cable was living at 26 Mecklenburgh Square, St. Pancras.

It is likely that he came to London shortly before 1925, when his earliest recorded work as an illustrator for national periodicals appeared. He contributed, albeit only minimally, to The Boy’s Own Paper and The Red Magazine, and he went on to contribute to The Bystander, The Passing Show, The Strand Magazine, The Golden West, Pearson’s Magazine, Cassell’s Magazine and, between 1931 and 1936, to The Novel Magazine. He also went on to work for Punch in the 1930s.

At the same time he was also working as a commercial artist – it is known, for example, that he designed posters for the Great Western Railway in the late 1920s//early 1930s. He later occasionally exhibited as a painter, in particular with the Royal Scottish Academy and the Dundee Art Society.

In the late 1930s he moved to Devon, and lived for a while at Taunton Cross, Shute, Axminster. In 1938, in Weymouth, Dorset, he married Minnie Skinner Hamden, born on 9 December 1902, the daughter of William Richard Hamden, the manager of a mineral water company. They settled at 22 Park Lane, St, Thomas, Devon, with Cable describing himself in the 1939 Register as a “Freelance Artist, Humorous and Serious, Educational Book Illustrator.”

His first book illustrations had appeared in 1931, in a story by May Wynne published by the Religious Tract Society, and then he began providing illustrations for dustwrappers (for example for two novels by Richard Starr, The Fifty-Fifty Marriage and Bachelor Girls, published by Herbert Jenkins). However, it appears he didn’t establish himself as a book illustrator until the late 1930s, when he illustrated a handful of girls’ school stories for Thomas Nelson & Sons and Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Having moved to Devon, he also worked with local publishers, illustrating a book of biographies of Cornish characters written by Clara Vyvyan and published by the Channing Press in Dawlish, Devon, and two series of “early reader” books published by A. Wheaton & Co., of Exeter.

In 1939 he illustrated a re-issue of Angela Brazil’s Monitress Merle for Blackie & Son, and he went to specialize in girls’ school stories. He became closely associated with Enid Blyton in 1940, when he illustrated The Naughtiest Girl in the School (and its sequel, The Naughtiest Girl Again in 1942) for George Newnes, and in 1941 when he began illustrating what turned out to be her six stories set at St. Clare’s, published by Methuen & Co. In 1943 he illustrated The Secret of Cliff Castle which was published by Newnes in 1943 under Blyton’s pseudonym of Mary Pollock.

He also illustrated three more school stories by Angela Brazil, for Blackie & Son, and five books by Rita Coatts, published by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. For the same publisher he also illustrated re-issues of classic novels such as Coral Island, Lorna Doone, Treasure Island, Mr Midshipman Easy and Robinson Crusoe. Between 1945 and 1949 he also worked for the Huddersfield publisher Schofield & Sims, illustrating a handful of children’s adventure and school stories.

He also occasionally contributed to annuals and similar volumes. Including The Sketch Book and Winter’s Pie Annual in 1927, and children’s books such as The Big Book of School Stories for Boys, The Girls’ Budget, Blackie’s Children’s Annual and The All-Story Wonder Book.

Many of his illustrations were in pencil, and were little more than quick sketches, some looking distinctly amateurish while others had a certain deal of verve.

In 1940 he courted some controversy when, while working for the Ministry of Information, he illustrated a series of booklets for children which were blatant propaganda. One, Ahmad and Johnny, written in Arabic, featured two young boys, Johnny, from England, and Ahmad, from Sudan, who had been brought to England by Johnny’s father. These were distributed in the Middle East and North Africa, while another series, Hussein and Johnny, written in Farsi, was aimed at an Iranian audience. Both series set out to show how enlightened and powerful Britain was, and how the country was pulling together to fight fascism.

In 1941 Cable left the Ministry of Information and returned to Dundee, where he spent two years working at the Dundee College of Art during the war-time teacher shortage, whilst still illustrating children’s books.

William Lindsay Cable died at his home at Thorngarth, 39 Navarre Street, Barnhill, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, on 12 April 1949, and was buried in Shanwell Cemetry, Carnoustie, on the 15 April. He left an estate valued at £3,098. His wife died at 72 Elwell Street, Upwey, Weymouth, Dorset on 17 October 1994, leaving £125,000.

PUBLICATIONS

Books illustrated by W. Lindsay Cable
The Secret of Marigold Marnell By May Wynne, Religious Tract Society, 1931
Nora O’Flanigan, Prefect by Maude S. Forsey, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1937
Jane Emerges by Margaret Ironside, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1937
Cornish Cronies by C.C. Vyvyan, Channing Press, 1937
Ghosts at Stark Hall by Rita Coatts, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1938
Jim the Dandy by S.M. Williams, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1938
Merry-go-Round Readers ed. by C. Bradham, Wheaton & Co.:
1.    Swing High! Swing Low! 1938
2.    All the Fun of the Fair 1938
3.    Roundabouts and Swings 1938
4.    Carnival! 1939
5.    Helter Skelter 1939
Wheaton’s Rhythmic Readers ed. by Belle Rose & M. Gallagher, Wheaton & Co., 1938-1940 (5 books)
Mary Todd’s Last Term by Frances Greenwood, Blackie & Son, 1939
The Caravan Holiday by Eileen Brook, Schofield & Sims, 1939
Monitress Merle by Angela Brazil, Blackie & Son, 1939 (re-issue)
The Mystery House by Jessie Leckie Herbertson, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939 (re-issue)
Tom Sawyer Grows Up by Clement Wood, George G. Harrap & Co., 1940
The Saturday Club by Elizabeth Leitch, Blackie & Son, 1940
The Naughtiest Girl in the School by Enid Blyton, George Newnes Ltd., 1940
Jane Emerges by Margaret Ironside, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1937
My Picture and Easy Reading Book, Frederick Warne & Co., 1940 (with other artists)
Running Deer by Geoffrey Trease, George G. Harrap & Co., 1941
Spies Over France by James Stewart, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1941
Five Jolly Schoolgirls by Angela Brazil, Blackie & Son, 1941
The Twins at St. Clare’s by Enid Blyton, Methuen & Co., 1941
The Naughtiest Girl Again by Enid Blyton, George Newnes Ltd., 1942
The Mystery of the Moated Grange by Angela Brazil, Blackie & Son, 1942
The O’Sullivan Twins by Enid Blyton, Methuen & Co., 1942
Summer Term at St. Clare’s by Enid Blyton, Methuen & Co., 1943
The Secret of Cliff Castle by Mary Pollock (i.e. Enid Blyton), George Newnes Ltd., 1943
Second Form at St. Clare’s by Enid Blyton, Methuen & Co., 1944
Don and the Meadscourt Mystery by V.B. Charlesworth, Hollis & Carter, 1944
Claudine at St. Clare’s by Enid Blyton, Methuen & Co., 1945
Fifth Formers of St. Clare’s by Enid Blyton, Methuen & Co., 1945
A Nautical Weekend by Charles Constant, Schofield & Sims, 1945
A Feud and a Find by Bertha Leonard, Schofield & Sims, 1945
The School on the Loch by Angela Brazil, Blackie & Son, 1946
The House Next Door by Ethel Nokes, Ward Lock & Co., 1946
Flying Films by Robert Hawke, Schofield & Sims, 1946
Aircraft Carrier by S.T. James, Schofield & Sims, 1946
The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1946 (re-issue)
Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1946 (re-issue)
The Secret of Arrivol by Frances Cowan, Schofield & Sims, 1947
Tales of the Tyrol by Shillingford St. George, Schofield & Sims, 1947
The Serpents by Amy Woodward, Schofield & Sims, 1947
Chu Tafu by Athol Harcourt Burrage, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1947
The Cruise of the Kingfisher by H. De Vere Stacpoole, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1947 (re-issue)
The Heather Moon by Hetty Davey, Schofield & Sims, 1947
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1947 (re-issue)
Jim Davis by John Masefield, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1947 (re-issue)
Mr Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1947 (re-issue)
Little Christian’s Pilgrimage by Helen L. Taylor, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1947 (re-issue)
When the Sea Boiled by Leslie Savage, Hollis & Carter, 1948
The Jewels and Jenny by Winifred Barnes, Schofield & Sims, 1948
The House with Dark Corners by Rita Coatts, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1948
Jane Sets Out by Rita Coatts, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1948
Lisbet Leads: A Story for Girls by Rita Coatts, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1948
Round Fairyland with Alice by Brenda Girvin, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1948 (re-issue)
Trouble at the Grange by George Pumphrey, Schofield & Sims, 1949
Jenny at St. Julien’s by Winifred Barnes, Schofield & Sims, 1949
The Redgold Guineas by Susan Mary Williams, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1949
The Silent House Which Held a Secret: A Story for Girls by Rita Coatts, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1949
The Three Elizabeths by Jesse Margaret Page, Blackie & Son, 1950
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (abridged), Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1952