March 31, 1942

Leonard Raven-Hill (March 10, 1867 to March 31, 1942) peaked a successful career as an illustrator with a post as a political cartoonist for Punch, a revered British magazine. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography summarized his early career this way:

Raven-Hill became a regular contributor of joke cartoons, theatrical caricatures, and illustrations to a variety of publications including Black & White, The Idler, the Pall Mall Magazine, and the Windsor Magazine-his career coincided with new methods of mechanical reproduction and the proliferation of 'light papers'. In 1890 he was appointed the art editor of Pick-Me-Up and was largely responsible for its success, and became a founder joint editor of the Butterfly (1893) which ranked high among the artistic periodicals. He was a celebrated draughtsman when his first drawing in Punch appeared on 28 December 1895. In 1889 Raven-Hill married Annie (d. 1922), daughter of Mark Rogers, a woodcarver. Following her death, he married in 1923 Marion Jean Lyon (d. 1940), for a number of years the able advertisement editor of Punch.

Here is a cartoon Leonard Raven-Hill did for Punch to highlight an Anglo- Russian dispute involving Iranian (then called Persia) territory. The date is December 13, 1911.




The text reads: "If we hadn't such a thorough understanding, I might almost be tempted to ask what you're doing there with our little playmate."  I might almost be tempted to say "the more things change," but I won't.