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Gary Stiles Offers a Brilliant Catalogue of Mr. Punch’s Churchill
Gary L. Stiles. Churchill in Punch. Lewes, East Sussex: Unicorn, 2022. 480 pages, $75, Amazon $49.54.
A special achievement
For an archivist and curator of books such as this writer, Gary Stiles presents an exquisite work. Churchill in Punch will delight both the connoisseur and the casual reader of Churchill or British history. A noted physician and collector of Churchilliana, Stiles catalogues every Churchill cartoon in Punch, Britain’s famed magazine of humor and satire. Over 600 drawings span nearly a century, by such talented caricaturists as Bernard Partridge, A.W. Lloyd, Leslie Illingworth and Ernest Shepard. The last was also famous for his illustrations of A.A. Milne’s beloved bear, Winnie the Pooh.
Richard Langworth in his Foreword refers to Punch (1841-1992, 1996-2002) as a must-read and long-lived feature of British life. Generally directed by a committee, its illustrators pioneered and developed the term “cartoon.” Punch made the rich and famous, especially politicians like Churchill take note. Young Winston burst upon the world scene with his famous escape from a Boer prison camp in 1899. He launched a parliamentary and literary career that provided nearly a century of good copy to news reporters. And, with his eccentric manners, dress and talents, he almost begged for caricature.
Ubiquitous Winston
Dr. Stiles sees Churchill as an embattled, long-term survivor who always led from the front, be it in sport, war or politics. He made for highly polarized press coverage, with Punch among the more interesting interpreters. Its cartoons, at times hostile, more often favorable, were almost always amusing.
The book is not a biography, but rather Churchill’s story as seen by Punch’s cartoonists and editors. Throughout and beyond his career, more than 50 artists drew his likeness. Their collective work produced exaggerated, iconic images still engrained upon us today. There was the the leaning gait, jutting jaw, hands on hips, oversized cigars and tiny hats. And there were his plethora of feverish activity: writing, polo, painting and bricklaying besides leading the nation.
Stiles begins by reminding us of Churchill’s multitude of political offices. From 1901 to 1964, with the exception of two years, he was a Member of Parliament, and a Privy Counselor from 1907. His first office was Undersecretary of State for the Colonies (1905-08). Later he headed the Board of Trade, Home Office, Admiralty (twice), Colonial Office, Exchequer, the Duchy of Lancaster, and the ministries of Munitions, War and Air. He was Prime Minister twice between 1940 and 1955, and Minister of Defence (1940-45, 1951-52, which Stiles omits). As an MP he served five constituencies, sometimes as a Conservative, sometimes as a Liberal. Being intrinsic to the politics of half a century, he was fair game to cartoonists, and Punch took full advantage.
Stiles organizes…
…each appearance of Churchill by title of the item, artist, date, volume, and page of publication. The published caption is followed by an explanatory note, providing context and often describing obscure personages and issues. He begins with the first mention of Churchill—a poem not an illustration—on 12 July 1899. Next comes the first Churchill cartoon, by Edward Tennyson Reed, from the department “Essence of Parliament,” 5 December 1900.
Stiles organizes Churchill’s appearances by decades. Surprisingly, many more Churchill appearances were in the 1920s (127) and 1950s (128) than the 1940s (85). Of course, he was embroiled in numerous controversies in four offices during the 1920s—Ireland, India, the Middle East, war reparations, the Gold Standard, the General strike. And by the 1950s it was time for valedictories. Stiles points out that Punch came early to his support after Churchill became prime minister. Light-hearted drawings mocking his oversize collars and tiny hats quickly disappeared, replaced by images of resolution and defiance.
The Great and the Good
This impressive catalog is well supported by seven appendices. Here Dr. Stiles includes cartoon citations, important leaders portrayed, Churchill’s hats, roles various figures played in the cartoons, topics, names of cartoonists, and brief biographies. Of particular interest are the political figures Churchill was often portrayed with. His early mentor and Prime Minister David Lloyd George is in 63 drawings H.H. Asquith is in 46, Clement Attlee in 44 and Anthony Eden in 37. Prime Ministers Stanley Baldwin, Arthur Balfour and Neville Chamberlain are less prominent. President Franklin Roosevelt crops up only four times.
Stiles writes that Churchill generally enjoyed the cartoons, even ones that poked serious fun at him. He was known to have purchased and framed at least one original, and took rueful pleasure in another sent him with a laugh by the press baron Lord Northcliffe. (See “Churchill by Poy,” 2022.)
But he took real umbrage by a disparaging cartoon mocking him as an aging and physically failing prime minister. Published in 1954, with a digging editorial by Punch editor Malcolm Muggeridge, it was politically damaging to both Churchill and Muggeridge. Worse yet was that the cartoonist, Leslie Illingworth, had mainly drawn admiring images of him in earlier years. The best of these was “Member for Woodford,” published 1949.
An instant classic
Everyone will have their favorites among this smorgasbord of political artistry. I am sure I will refer to mine again and again, for this is not the sort of book to rest quietly on one’s shelves. Several of the best are reproduced here. Other notables include “Well-Earned Increment,” showing the First Lord of the Admiralty as a Christmas cherub (1912). In “A Family Visit” the ghost of Marlborough visits WSC as Munich erupted (1938). “The Old Sea-Dog” (1939) dressed Churchill as Francis Drake finishing his game of bowls before facing the Spanish Armada, or in this case Germany. “The Rock and the Storm” (1940) shows the PM as a tidal wave, destroying the Luftwaffe on Britain’s rugged coast.
One could really go on for hours, but you have to see this book for yourself. It is not cheap, but the publishers have done Dr. Stiles proud in the quality of the binding, printing and paper stock. And Amazon offers a good discount. Gary Stiles himself has given us an instant classic—an elite contribution to the mound of “must-read” Churchilliana.
The author
William John Shepherd, archivist, curator, and historian, is a longtime contributor to The Churchill Project.