[1] 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. Ross, and inked and later fully illustrated by his French wife Émilie de Tessier under the pseudonym "Marie Duval" (or "Marie Du Val";[2] sources differ).

The strips, which used text narrative beneath unbordered panels, premiered in the 14 August 1867 issue of Judy, a humour-magazine rival of the famous Punch.

The highly popular character was spun off into his own comic, Ally Sloper's Half Holiday, in 1884.

Sloper appeared in three feature films and a wide array of merchandising from pocket watches to door stops.

The arrival of the First World War in 1914 saw severe paper rationing, and in 1916 the Half Holiday comic ceased production.