Cartoon by J.W. Taylor.
John Whitfield Taylor, who often signed with his initials, was a mid-20th century British teacher and cartoonist. He combined his job with a productive career for Punch magazine and the newspaper The Sentinel.
Life and career
John Whitfield Taylor was born in 1908. He studied at the University of Manchester, where he was art editor of the student magazine, The Rag. This function allowed him to pick out cartoons by fellow students, although he admitted that he usually selected his own work. After graduation, Taylor became an art teacher at Portland House School. He lived in Harpfields, a suburb of Stoke-on-Trent in the county of Staffordshire. He was married and had two children. J.W. Taylor passed away in 1985.
Cartoon by J.W. Taylor.
Cartooning career
In the late 1920s, Taylor started drawing cartoons as a student. It is unknown when and where he made his first professional publications, but he was certainly a recognizable cartoonist in Punch by the early 1950s and remained a regular contributor there until at least the mid-1970s. Taylor also published in Crocks and Crazes, the weekly supplement of the newspaper The Sentinel. As described in an article from Weekly Illustrated by David Clayton (issue #14, June 1955), Taylor had to combine his cartooning career with his day job as a teacher. He drew all his cartoons in his spare time, during weekends. However, he was known to scribble down ideas during the week in a little notebook. And during meetings and educational conferences, Taylor couldn't resist the urge of doodling in his books.
J.W. Taylor.
Taylor's best-known and often reprinted cartoon depicts a man waiting next to a tree. His thought balloon reveals he's waiting for a woman. However, as time passes by, the thought of her morphs into a pint of beer, which motivates him to go to a pub.
J.W. Taylor's cartoons were admired by fellow cartoonist Bernard Hollowood, AKA Hod.
Cartoon by J.W. Taylor.