Bruce Bairnsfather

[1][2] Bairnsfather spent his early life in India, but was brought to England in 1895 to be educated at the United Services College, Westward Ho!, then at Stratford-upon-Avon.

In 1914, Bairnsfather was commissioned into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a second lieutenant and served with a machine gun unit in France until 1915, when he was hospitalised with shell shock and hearing damage sustained during the Second Battle of Ypres.

Posted to the 34th Division headquarters on Salisbury Plain, he developed his humorous series for the Bystander about life in the trenches, featuring "Old Bill", a curmudgeonly soldier with trademark walrus moustache and balaclava.

Nevertheless, success in raising morale led to Bairnsfather's promotion and receipt of a War Office appointment to draw similar cartoons for other Allied forces.

Instead, he became official cartoonist to the American forces in Europe, contributing to Stars and Stripes and Yank, whilst residing at Cresswell House in Clun, Shropshire.

Quoting a Nazi textbook taken from a German prisoner of war that shows the cartoon, the clipping reads: "Obviously, the hole was not made by a mouse.

A plaque commemorating Bruce Bairnsfather was unveiled at his former home, Victoria Spa Lodge, Bishopton, Stratford upon Avon (52°12′18″N 1°43′52″W / 52.205018°N 1.731122°W / 52.205018; -1.731122) on 10 September 2005 by cartoonist Bill Tidy.

[8] The plaque was instigated by Mark Warby, Editor of The Old Bill Newsletter, the official journal for Bairnsfather enthusiasts and collectors.

Bill & Alphie's, the Royal Military College of Canada's on-campus cadet pub in Kingston, Ontario is named after Bruce Bairnsfather's Great War cartoon characters.

There is a large mural featuring "Old Bill" smoking amidst the ruins of a French village, drawn on the wall of the main staircase in the Royal British Legion Victory House Club in Ludlow, Shropshire.