C. H. Chapman
Encyclopedia
Charles Henry Chapman who signed his work as C. H. Chapman, was a British
illustrator
and cartoon
ist best known for his work in boys' story papers such as The Magnet
where the character Billy Bunter
appeared. He later illustrated Bunter cantoons strips and several Bunter books published in the 1950s and 1960s.
His work was also seen in magazines and comics including The Captain, Marvel, Pluck, Boy's Friend
, The Boys' Herald
, Boy's Leader, Chips, Comic Cuts
, Jester and Big Budget
.
, a small agricultural town in the south of Norfolk
. His father was an engineer on the staff of Messers Charles Burrell & Sons Ltd.
, a well known maker of steam rollers and other kinds of farming equipment. From 1889 he attended Thetford Grammar School
. His family moved to Reading, Berkshire
, in his early teens where he attended Kendrick Boys School
which was taken over by Reading School
in 1915.
As a child he was always very fond of drawing. He describes his memory of his mother drawing birds in a "sort of friendly nursery way. I always wished I could draw birds, but I never could draw birds at all" He attributes development of his early drawing skills to the Art Master at Kendrick school who encouraged him. While at Kendrick school He edited and illustrated "The Kendrick Comet". His brother George was also a regular contributor. After Kendrick school he joined, what was known then as, the Reading College of Art. This was later to be part of the University of Reading
. Here he was tutored by, in his words "some very good masters" notably Professor Allen W. Seaby, professor of Fine Arts at the University.
In 1898 he was apprenticed to Mr. Anthony Fox, an architect in Basingstoke
. Mr. Fox was the eldest son of Messers Fox and Sons of Bournemouth, the well known house agents and auctioneers. During this time he didn't like architecture at all but he admitted it gave him a good training and a solid foundation for the work he did later. He completed his training as an Architectural Draughtsman at age 20, but felt that there was not much future in architecture and little money to be made. In 1903 he decided to strike out on his own and launched himself as an illustrator and architectural artist. "The money", he said, "was to be made in some of the publications, comic papers".
The United Press started at about this time and were doing "wonderful things". They would bring out a paper every week or month, including Puck, Magnet, Gem, Comic Cuts.
After his apprenticeship at Basingstoke he worked as a free lance artist on comics such as Judy, The Magnet
, Chums
, Forget-me-not, Boys Friend, Boys Herald, The Big Budget, The Captain
, Scraps, Comic Cuts, The Jester, Chips and Punch
. His first published drawing appeared in The Captain in August 1900. Between 1900 and 1905 he had many drawings published in Penny Pictorial, Girls’ Friend, Home Magazine, Heroes, Daily Graphic, Edward-de-Mansey and Chums. Later, between 1905 and 1908, his drawings appeared in Judy, Osanly’s Next, Hamilton papers of Mr. Edwards, The Scout, Pearson’s Big Budget, Daily Graphic
, Captain Scott, Wonder and Chips. Chapman continued to contribute some of his best drawings while these publications were in print on and off up until he retired in 1966 at age 88.
While he was looking around for prospects he was approached by the publishers of Ally Sloper
. This was a character that had been a regular in the humour magazine Judy (rival to the more serious magazine Punch
), published weekly since its first publication on August 14, 1867. The character was originated and written by Charles H. Ross. The artist who created the character was Emilie de Tessier
, the wife of Charles Ross, who worked under the pseudonym "Marie Duval". When Charles Ross died his wife continued to write the Ally Sloper text. Chapman did some trial drawings and submitted them to the publisher who accepted and paid for them. He continued to illustrate the Ally Sloper character for several years until the series ended in 1916 as result of paper rationing, a consequence of World War I
. The War hit the boy's papers hard and it looked for a time like The Magnet
and The Gem
might be in trouble. However, they managed to pull through.
By this time The Magnet and The Gem were becoming very popular from their start in 1908. In 1911 their Chief Artist, Arthur Clarke, died and Chapman was asked to take on his job. This was a particularly busy time for these publications and he was expected to be a regular contributor from the very beginning and it turned out to be a full time job.
He was to illustrate the well established character Billy Bunter
of Greyfriars School
. The Billy Bunter series ran regularly until World War II
. In post-war years CH Chapman was 'rediscovered' by a hobby enthusiast called Bob Whiter (who was somewhat of an amateur artist himself), and he began to attend meetings of the Old Boys Book Clubs. Due to Bob Whiter in part, there was a clamouring for Chapman to illustrate the post-war Bunter books. As a result he took over from RJ Macdonald, who had been the Gem artist in previous years, after Macdonald died during the 1950s. When Frank Richards
, the author, himself died in June 1961 he carried on as the illustrator of Billy Bunter publications with Cassell’s, the publisher, until 1965. The last Billy Bunter Picture Book illustrated by CH Chapman was published by the Old Boys Club produced by Mr. John Wenham in 1967.
The first drawing he did for The Magnet
was a fight between Harry Wharton and Bob Cherry in the Billy Bunter series. At this time Billy Bunter was an established character with glasses, his hair quiff in the middle and his check trousers. The check trousers were a key feature to distinguish Bunter from Johnny Bull who looked very much like him. It was decided to make him recognizable with the check trousers and the glasses. In those days boys wore very tight trousers as the Oxford bags didn't come in until much later. Billy Bunter was described as "fat, very greedy and not a very desirable character at all". His nickname was the Fat Owl. The boys, however, were fond of him and didn't let anything really happen to him.
Billy was also cast with a younger brother called Sammy who was nothing like his older brother. He also had a sister called Bessie Bunter
whoe had many of the characteristics of Billy. She attended a local girl’s school called Cliff House. All of these details were important in the development of the characters and how they were drawn over time.
It was a very strict routine and a tight schedule illustrating a boy's magazine. Chapman lived in Woodcote
, Oxfordshire
, about 25 km north of Reading. On a Tuesday morning he would receive the typed script in the mail, a request for a cover, a frontspiece and five or six illustrations. He would prepare the drawings. First there would be a rough drawing in pencil, and then finally he would ink them in. All illustrations were drawn approximately double the size used for reproduction. Any colors required would be added in by one of the artistic staff at the magazine office. The completed drawings were placed in the mail on Friday morning and received in the magazine office the following Monday morning. Then the process would repeat itself over again.
There was typically a six week lag period before the drawings would appear in the comic books. If he wanted to take a two week vacation he would have to manage to get two weeks ahead. This tight schedule produced considerable pressure over time. There were no "stand in" artists on the staff; however, there were other artists on staff at the magazine that could occasionally help out if required. This would entail a series of rough sketches sent in that would be completed by the illustrative staff at the magazine.
Eventually the workload became so heavy that Chapman was provided with a studio next to the office. This entailed spending two or three days a week in London. A consequence of being closer to the office was the ability to do extra drawings for the magazine on request.
Chapman would commute by train from Reading
to Paddington station
, usually travelling first class. The train was a steam locomotive in those days and always packed to capacity. Interestingly, both of his brothers, W George Chapman (an engineer and well known author of technical books on steam trains) and Arthur, worked for the Great Western Railway
in Paddington.
In one of his writings in June 1937 Chapman told the story that on more than one occasion, "soothed by the silken progress of travelling", he dosed off past Tilehurst
and even to Streatley
on more than one occasion. This was, incidentally, not that unusual for many of the travellers on his train although few would admit it.
In another story he recounted the "more or less scrappy" form of interesting people he would observe while sitting for 40 or 50 minutes on the train. The idea started in a small way. He used to furtively take out his sketch book and make a hurried pencil drawing of the person sitting opposite. Later he became emboldened and produce more complex sketches. Ultimately, pretending to be absorbed in his newspaper he would amass a whole assembly of characters. This drawings provided him with the various characters later to be used in his cartoons and illustrations. His drawings were carefully taped and indexed in his studio files. He sometimes wondered what he would say if he was caught and regarded as being a spy or some sort of foreign conspirator. (Many of these sketch book drawings are still available in John Chapman’s collection).
In more recent years as he became well known he was invited to both write and illustrate for several more specialized publications. These included illustrating articles by George Robey
in 1931 and 1932 and for the Austin Magazine. He wrote and illustrated material for The Bicycle between 1949 and 1951 and also for their competitor Cycling. The Radio Times
commissioned him to illustrate 12 double page specials in 1951 and 1952.
Over the years he had illustrated for many well known authors in addition to Charles Hamilton. These included Charles P Sisley, George Robey, A. C. Mann, Arthur Brooke, Home-Gall, and Henry H John Cooper. He worked on commission for several editors of magazines and these included Hamilton Edwards, Harold Garrish, J L Penelow, H. A. Hinton, C. M. Down, Henry H. John Cooper and T. C. Bridges of the Associated Press.
Chapman has written many short poems and stories. The stories were mainly hand written but sometimes carefully typed using an old manual typewriter. Several of these scripts are available but have now been transcribed and saved. Titles such as 'Old Sam’s Outing', 'Seen From the Saddle' series, 'Secret Chambers and Hiding Places', 'Old English Inns and Signs' and 'A Memory: April in the Country – 1907' to name a few.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
illustrator
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
and cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
ist best known for his work in boys' story papers such as The Magnet
The Magnet
The Magnet was a United Kingdom weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional public school located somewhere in Kent, and were written...
where the character Billy Bunter
Billy Bunter
William George Bunter , is a fictional character created by Charles Hamilton using the pen name Frank Richards...
appeared. He later illustrated Bunter cantoons strips and several Bunter books published in the 1950s and 1960s.
His work was also seen in magazines and comics including The Captain, Marvel, Pluck, Boy's Friend
Boy's Friend
The Boy's Friend was a British story paper of the early 20th century.-Overview:The Boy's Friend was a large, tabloid-sized storypaper priced one penny...
, The Boys' Herald
The Boys' Herald
The Boys' Herald was a magazine published in England from 1877. It mostly ran adventure stories and sold for 1d...
, Boy's Leader, Chips, Comic Cuts
Comic Cuts
Comic Cuts was a British comic book. It was created by the reporter, Alfred Harmsworth through his company Amalgamated Press . It was published from 1890 to 1953, lasting 3006 issues, and in its early days inspired other publishers to produce rival comics. It's first issue was an assortment of...
, Jester and Big Budget
Big Budget
Big Budget was a British comic which ran weekly from 1897 until 1909.Published by C. Arthur Pearson Big Budget was first published on June 19th 1897. Initially comprising three eight page sections; The Big Budget , The Comrade's Budget and The Story Budget, the latter two being text fiction sections...
.
Biography
Charles Henry Chapman was born on April 1, 1879 at ThetfordThetford
Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588.-History:...
, a small agricultural town in the south of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. His father was an engineer on the staff of Messers Charles Burrell & Sons Ltd.
Charles Burrell & Sons
Charles Burrell & Sons were builders of steam traction engines, agricultural machinery, steam trucks and steam tram engines. The company were based in Thetford, Norfolk and operated from the St Nicholas works on Minstergate and St Nicholas Street some of which survives today.At their height they...
, a well known maker of steam rollers and other kinds of farming equipment. From 1889 he attended Thetford Grammar School
Thetford Grammar School
Thetford Grammar School is an independent co-educational school in Thetford, Norfolk, England. The school traces its origins back to 631, and through its Roll of Headmasters to 1114, though it appears to have ceased from around 1496 until its refoundation from the will of Sir Richard Fulmerston in...
. His family moved to Reading, Berkshire
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, in his early teens where he attended Kendrick Boys School
Reading School
Reading School is a state-funded, selective academy school for boys in the English town of Reading. It is notable for tracing its history back to the school of Reading Abbey, making it one of the oldest schools in England. There are no tuition fees for day pupils, and boarders only pay for food and...
which was taken over by Reading School
Reading School
Reading School is a state-funded, selective academy school for boys in the English town of Reading. It is notable for tracing its history back to the school of Reading Abbey, making it one of the oldest schools in England. There are no tuition fees for day pupils, and boarders only pay for food and...
in 1915.
As a child he was always very fond of drawing. He describes his memory of his mother drawing birds in a "sort of friendly nursery way. I always wished I could draw birds, but I never could draw birds at all" He attributes development of his early drawing skills to the Art Master at Kendrick school who encouraged him. While at Kendrick school He edited and illustrated "The Kendrick Comet". His brother George was also a regular contributor. After Kendrick school he joined, what was known then as, the Reading College of Art. This was later to be part of the University of Reading
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
. Here he was tutored by, in his words "some very good masters" notably Professor Allen W. Seaby, professor of Fine Arts at the University.
In 1898 he was apprenticed to Mr. Anthony Fox, an architect in Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...
. Mr. Fox was the eldest son of Messers Fox and Sons of Bournemouth, the well known house agents and auctioneers. During this time he didn't like architecture at all but he admitted it gave him a good training and a solid foundation for the work he did later. He completed his training as an Architectural Draughtsman at age 20, but felt that there was not much future in architecture and little money to be made. In 1903 he decided to strike out on his own and launched himself as an illustrator and architectural artist. "The money", he said, "was to be made in some of the publications, comic papers".
The United Press started at about this time and were doing "wonderful things". They would bring out a paper every week or month, including Puck, Magnet, Gem, Comic Cuts.
After his apprenticeship at Basingstoke he worked as a free lance artist on comics such as Judy, The Magnet
The Magnet
The Magnet was a United Kingdom weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional public school located somewhere in Kent, and were written...
, Chums
Chums (paper)
Chums was a boys' weekly newspaper started in 1892 that was the official paper of the British Boy Scouts and British Boys' Naval Brigade . The publisher also gathered the weekly paper into monthly and annual editions...
, Forget-me-not, Boys Friend, Boys Herald, The Big Budget, The Captain
The Captain (1900s magazine)
The Captain was a magazine for young boys, published monthly in the United Kingdom from 1899 to 1924.It is perhaps best known for printing many of P. G. Wodehouse's early school stories, such as many of those featured in the collection Tales of St. Austin's...
, Scraps, Comic Cuts, The Jester, Chips and Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
. His first published drawing appeared in The Captain in August 1900. Between 1900 and 1905 he had many drawings published in Penny Pictorial, Girls’ Friend, Home Magazine, Heroes, Daily Graphic, Edward-de-Mansey and Chums. Later, between 1905 and 1908, his drawings appeared in Judy, Osanly’s Next, Hamilton papers of Mr. Edwards, The Scout, Pearson’s Big Budget, Daily Graphic
Daily Graphic
The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York in 1873 by a firm of Canadian engravers and began publication in March of that year...
, Captain Scott, Wonder and Chips. Chapman continued to contribute some of his best drawings while these publications were in print on and off up until he retired in 1966 at age 88.
While he was looking around for prospects he was approached by the publishers of Ally Sloper
Ally Sloper
Alexander "Ally" Sloper is one of the earliest fictional comic strip characters. Red-nosed and blustery, an archetypal lazy schemer often found "sloping" through alleys to avoid his landlord and other creditors, he was created for the British magazine Judy, by writer and fledgling artist Charles H...
. This was a character that had been a regular in the humour magazine Judy (rival to the more serious magazine Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
), published weekly since its first publication on August 14, 1867. The character was originated and written by Charles H. Ross. The artist who created the character was Emilie de Tessier
Emilie de Tessier
Isabelle Emilie de Tessier who worked under the pseudonym Marie Duval, was a French cartoonist, known as co-creator of the seminal cartoon character Ally Sloper.-Biography:...
, the wife of Charles Ross, who worked under the pseudonym "Marie Duval". When Charles Ross died his wife continued to write the Ally Sloper text. Chapman did some trial drawings and submitted them to the publisher who accepted and paid for them. He continued to illustrate the Ally Sloper character for several years until the series ended in 1916 as result of paper rationing, a consequence of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The War hit the boy's papers hard and it looked for a time like The Magnet
The Magnet
The Magnet was a United Kingdom weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional public school located somewhere in Kent, and were written...
and The Gem
The Gem
The Gem was a story paper published in Great Britain by Amalgamated Press in the early 20th century, predominately featuring the activities of boys at the fictional school "St. Jim's". These stories were all written using the pen-name of Martin Clifford, the majority by Charles Hamilton who was...
might be in trouble. However, they managed to pull through.
By this time The Magnet and The Gem were becoming very popular from their start in 1908. In 1911 their Chief Artist, Arthur Clarke, died and Chapman was asked to take on his job. This was a particularly busy time for these publications and he was expected to be a regular contributor from the very beginning and it turned out to be a full time job.
He was to illustrate the well established character Billy Bunter
Billy Bunter
William George Bunter , is a fictional character created by Charles Hamilton using the pen name Frank Richards...
of Greyfriars School
Greyfriars School
Greyfriars School is a fictional English public school used as a setting in the long running series of stories by the writer Charles Hamilton, who wrote under the pen-name Frank Richards. Although the stories are focused on the Remove , whose most famous pupil was Billy Bunter, other characters...
. The Billy Bunter series ran regularly until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In post-war years CH Chapman was 'rediscovered' by a hobby enthusiast called Bob Whiter (who was somewhat of an amateur artist himself), and he began to attend meetings of the Old Boys Book Clubs. Due to Bob Whiter in part, there was a clamouring for Chapman to illustrate the post-war Bunter books. As a result he took over from RJ Macdonald, who had been the Gem artist in previous years, after Macdonald died during the 1950s. When Frank Richards
Charles Hamilton (writer)
Charles Harold St. John Hamilton , was an English writer, specializing in writing long-running series of stories for weekly magazines about recurrent casts of characters, his most frequent and famous genre being boys' public school stories, though he also dealt with other genres...
, the author, himself died in June 1961 he carried on as the illustrator of Billy Bunter publications with Cassell’s, the publisher, until 1965. The last Billy Bunter Picture Book illustrated by CH Chapman was published by the Old Boys Club produced by Mr. John Wenham in 1967.
The first drawing he did for The Magnet
The Magnet
The Magnet was a United Kingdom weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional public school located somewhere in Kent, and were written...
was a fight between Harry Wharton and Bob Cherry in the Billy Bunter series. At this time Billy Bunter was an established character with glasses, his hair quiff in the middle and his check trousers. The check trousers were a key feature to distinguish Bunter from Johnny Bull who looked very much like him. It was decided to make him recognizable with the check trousers and the glasses. In those days boys wore very tight trousers as the Oxford bags didn't come in until much later. Billy Bunter was described as "fat, very greedy and not a very desirable character at all". His nickname was the Fat Owl. The boys, however, were fond of him and didn't let anything really happen to him.
Billy was also cast with a younger brother called Sammy who was nothing like his older brother. He also had a sister called Bessie Bunter
Bessie Bunter
Elizabeth Gertrude Bunter, better known as Bessie Bunter, is a fictional character created by Charles Hamilton, who also created her more famous brother Billy Bunter.-History:...
whoe had many of the characteristics of Billy. She attended a local girl’s school called Cliff House. All of these details were important in the development of the characters and how they were drawn over time.
It was a very strict routine and a tight schedule illustrating a boy's magazine. Chapman lived in Woodcote
Woodcote
Woodcote is a village in the civil parish in South Oxfordshire, about southeast of Wallingford and about northwest of Reading, Berkshire. It is in the Chiltern Hills, and the highest part of the village is above sea level....
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, about 25 km north of Reading. On a Tuesday morning he would receive the typed script in the mail, a request for a cover, a frontspiece and five or six illustrations. He would prepare the drawings. First there would be a rough drawing in pencil, and then finally he would ink them in. All illustrations were drawn approximately double the size used for reproduction. Any colors required would be added in by one of the artistic staff at the magazine office. The completed drawings were placed in the mail on Friday morning and received in the magazine office the following Monday morning. Then the process would repeat itself over again.
There was typically a six week lag period before the drawings would appear in the comic books. If he wanted to take a two week vacation he would have to manage to get two weeks ahead. This tight schedule produced considerable pressure over time. There were no "stand in" artists on the staff; however, there were other artists on staff at the magazine that could occasionally help out if required. This would entail a series of rough sketches sent in that would be completed by the illustrative staff at the magazine.
Eventually the workload became so heavy that Chapman was provided with a studio next to the office. This entailed spending two or three days a week in London. A consequence of being closer to the office was the ability to do extra drawings for the magazine on request.
Chapman would commute by train from Reading
Reading railway station
Reading railway station is a major rail transport hub in the English town of Reading. It is situated on the northern edge of the town centre, close to the main retail and commercial areas, and also the River Thames...
to Paddington station
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...
, usually travelling first class. The train was a steam locomotive in those days and always packed to capacity. Interestingly, both of his brothers, W George Chapman (an engineer and well known author of technical books on steam trains) and Arthur, worked for the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
in Paddington.
In one of his writings in June 1937 Chapman told the story that on more than one occasion, "soothed by the silken progress of travelling", he dosed off past Tilehurst
Tilehurst
Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is also, with different boundaries as described below, a civil parish in West Berkshire district.-History:...
and even to Streatley
Streatley, Berkshire
Streatley is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England.-Location:Streatley is about from Reading and from Oxford. It is in the Goring Gap on the River Thames and is directly across the river from the Oxfordshire village of Goring-on-Thames...
on more than one occasion. This was, incidentally, not that unusual for many of the travellers on his train although few would admit it.
In another story he recounted the "more or less scrappy" form of interesting people he would observe while sitting for 40 or 50 minutes on the train. The idea started in a small way. He used to furtively take out his sketch book and make a hurried pencil drawing of the person sitting opposite. Later he became emboldened and produce more complex sketches. Ultimately, pretending to be absorbed in his newspaper he would amass a whole assembly of characters. This drawings provided him with the various characters later to be used in his cartoons and illustrations. His drawings were carefully taped and indexed in his studio files. He sometimes wondered what he would say if he was caught and regarded as being a spy or some sort of foreign conspirator. (Many of these sketch book drawings are still available in John Chapman’s collection).
In more recent years as he became well known he was invited to both write and illustrate for several more specialized publications. These included illustrating articles by George Robey
George Robey
Sir George Edward Wade , better known by his stage name, George Robey, was an English music hall comedian and star. He was marketed as the "Prime Minister of Mirth".-Early life:...
in 1931 and 1932 and for the Austin Magazine. He wrote and illustrated material for The Bicycle between 1949 and 1951 and also for their competitor Cycling. The Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
commissioned him to illustrate 12 double page specials in 1951 and 1952.
Over the years he had illustrated for many well known authors in addition to Charles Hamilton. These included Charles P Sisley, George Robey, A. C. Mann, Arthur Brooke, Home-Gall, and Henry H John Cooper. He worked on commission for several editors of magazines and these included Hamilton Edwards, Harold Garrish, J L Penelow, H. A. Hinton, C. M. Down, Henry H. John Cooper and T. C. Bridges of the Associated Press.
Chapman has written many short poems and stories. The stories were mainly hand written but sometimes carefully typed using an old manual typewriter. Several of these scripts are available but have now been transcribed and saved. Titles such as 'Old Sam’s Outing', 'Seen From the Saddle' series, 'Secret Chambers and Hiding Places', 'Old English Inns and Signs' and 'A Memory: April in the Country – 1907' to name a few.
Sources
- http://lambiek.net/artists/c/chapman_ch.htm
- http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/public/author_profile.php?id=739