Harry Hargreaves (cartoonist)
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Harry Hargreaves (9 February 1922 Manchester - 12 November 2004 Yeovil, Somerset) was an English cartoonist, best remembered for "The Bird" which he produced for Punch and for "Hayseeds" in the London Evening News. [1][2]
Born the son of a civil servant, Hargreaves was educated at Chorlton High School. Here he produced cartoons for the school magazine at the age of twelve, and two years later his first cartoon was published by the Manchester Evening News. He was a choirboy at Manchester Cathedral in the years 1930-33. When his parents split up he left school at sixteen to work for Lorne & Howarth, an interior design company, studying architecture, mechanical drawing and furniture design at Manchester School of Art in his spare time. This led to a 1938 position as trainee engineer, for companies which included Rolls-Royce, Ford and Kestrel Engines. 1939 found him working for the Manchester art agency Kayebon Press as assistant to Hugh McNeill on strips for the The Dandy, The Beano and Pansy Potter. During WWII he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Signals, began contributing to Blighty, and was posted to India, Ceylon and Persia. [3][4]
Following the War Hargreaves worked at Gaumont British as a trainee animator in the period 1946-49. Here he met Penny Vickery whom he married in 1948, the couple raising two daughters. The 1950s saw his return to strip work in children's comics with his work on 'Harold Hare' and 'Ollie the Alley Cat' in Sun, 'Don Quickshot' in Knockout Fun Book and 'Terry the Troubadour' in TV Comic.