Humour in troubled times

04 June 24

Modern historians believe the prehistoric paintings and drawings on caves are really moving pictures. More to the point they could well be early cartoons depicting hunting and telling a story of life in cartoon form.

What is a cartoon? A sketch or drawing that can be humorous, as in a newspaper or a periodical, symbolising or satirising some action or political figure. WWI produced a large number of cartoonists whose works were published in Punch, The Illustrated London News and other newspapers.

Bruce Bairnsfather, often described as the man who won the war, was born in India where his father was serving in the British Army and educated in England. In 1914 he was commissioned in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. During the second battle of Ypres he was badly wounded, and after recovering served at 34 Division in Salisbury where he introduced readers of The Bystander magazine to his character ‘Old Bill’ and his complaining young Private. It appears that in 1914 there was a conservative crowd who felt that Old Bill was vulgar,  yet Old Bill was tremendously popular with the troops as Bluey and Curly were in WWII with Australian Diggers. Bairnsfather was posted as a captain to the War Office to draw cartoons for Allies. Following the war he continue as a cartoonist and in WWII worked for the American Stars and Stripes.

Australian cartoonists contributed to Australian papers and one outstanding artist was William Henry Dyson, better known as Will Dyson. Dyson was born at Ballarat, Victoria, and was accepted by the Bulletin as an artist when he was 21. He later drew illustrations for brother Edward’s work ‘fact’ry Ands. In 1915 he became the first Australian Official War Artist at the Front but was not concerned in finding safe places to sketch and in 1917 was wounded twice. In 1919 Dyson published a cartoon Peace and Future Cannon Fodder that showed he had a sense of the future. Dyson died of a heart disease in 1938.

The two publications, sadly now out of print, were The Illustrated London News and Punch, both contributing important cartoons in WWI. The Illustrated London News appeared on 14 May 1842, founded by Herbert Ingram. It printed wood engravings of social and current events and the magazine’s popularity out-sold any other similar publication. Many cartoonists worked for the magazine including Frank Reynolds, GH Davis and Samuel Begg. The ILN, unlike the editor of Punch, entered the war with pictorial enthusiasm, publishing photographs of German behaviour in Belgium and at sea! Notable artists who also worked for the News during WWI were Amedee Forester, Frederick Villiers and Richard Carton Woodville.

Punch was founded in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. It was also subtitled The London Charivari as the style of the new publication was going to be humorous and satirical like the French paper Le Charivar. Punch was the first paper to coin the word ‘cartoon’ when in 1843 it was suggested the House of Commons should be decorated with murals and cartoons.

Cartoons at that time were a finished sketch on cardboard from the Italian ‘cartonein.’ Punch used the word to describe its political cartoons and the word quickly became popular. Artists who contributed to early Punch included Charles Dickens, Richard Doyle and John Tenniel. When war was declared with Germany the editor of Punch, Sir Owen Seaman, felt that the publication should be closed until after the war! A friend changed his mind and Punch became an enthusiastic supporter of British War aims. Punch believed comedy should be employed in a cathartic role against the tension, fear and grief caused by the fighting. Artists who contributed to Punch used slang and at times depicted those not in uniform as yokels or factory workers. Men in uniform were quite often depicted as virile and the best of the British people. Both Punch and The Illustrated London News supported the idea of Britain as a unified country proud of its patriotism, vitality and influence.

The argument about WWI cartoons and possible pictures in later wars is that cartoons in war are designed for propaganda or morale boosting for the people at home. Apart from Punch and The Illustrated London News, British dailies or monthlies pushed the propaganda and morale theme and no doubt in the latter progress of WWI, propaganda and morale-boosting was not only important for the public but also for the troops in the Western Front and the Middle East.

By W Bro Stephen Dally - Freemason Magazine March 2020