Leslie Illingworth

• Born 1902-09-02 · Died 1979-12-20

After graduating from Barry County School he found work at the lithographic department at the Western Mail and while working there, he attended the Cardiff School of Arts, to which he had won a scholarship. Some of his artwork had been published in the Football Express before attending college. At the Western Mail, he began drawing cartoons but in 1920 he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. He moved to the capital, but a few months later the Western Mail's political cartoonist J. M. Staniforth died and Illingworth was offered the position. He returned to Wales as Staniforth's replacement and worked there while attending the Slade School of Art. He began taking commissioned work, went freelance, and saw his first work published in the satirical magazine Punch in 1927. He also studied in the United States, Berlin and Paris, including at the Academie Julian. On returning to Britain, Illingworth was in demand and his work appeared in many magazines and also in advertising. In 1938 Percy Fearon retired as cartoonist of the Daily Mail, Illingworth applied for the vacancy, and he joined the paper in November 1939, becoming chief political cartoonist for the Mail throughout World War II. In 1945, Illingworth was offered the position of Second Cartoonist at Punch working alongside E. H. Shepard. He also continued to work for the Daily Mail until 1969 and in 1974 he worked for the News of the World producing a weekly cartoon.