From article in History Today,
Colonel Blimp's England.
David Low
David Low, 1891-1963, the cartoonist, was born in New Zealand and raised
in Christchurch by Scottish-Irish parents who fostered his independence,
as did the Antipodean radical tradition. As a child, English half-penny
comics, such as Chips, Comic Cuts, Larks, and
Ally Sloper's Half Holiday, attracted him to caricature. A
self-taught artist, Low's discovery in Punch of Keene, Sambourne,
and especially, Phil May, stimulated him to refine his style.
At eleven he sold his first cartoon. Soon after he was hired by the
Christchurch Spectator. At sixteen he joined the Sketcher,
whose proprietor, Fred Rayner, taught him to draw from life. Low
systematically sent his work abroad, and in 1911 the Sydney
Bulletin lured him to their Melbourne office. At the Bulletin,
a nursery for cartoonists and radical journalists, Low refined his
ideas, techniques and style, stimulated by such cartoonists as Alf
Vincent, Will Dyson and Norman Lindsay.
[Author of Age of Consent]
Low's best-selling Billy Book, which teased Australia's wartime
prime minister, provoked Arnold Bennett to bring Low to the Cadbury
newspapers' attention.
Low came to London to the Star in Autumn 1919. His clear moral and
political viewpoint, visual and verbal satire, and technical mastery,
enlivened Eglish editorial cartooning. In 1927 Beaverbrook enticed Low
to his Evening Standard. In the 1930s Low introduced Colonel
Blimp to the public as part of a one-man campaign against the tragic
muddle of those locust years. His cartoons were syndicated world-wide
and censored in Germany and Italy. They were a major influence on
public opinion. Feeling stale, Low left the Standard in 1950
for a short, unhappy stay with the Daily Herald. He spent his
final years with the Manchester Guardian, and was knighted for
his work in 1962.
Back to index
