Bert Thomas
{{short description|British political cartoonist}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Bert Thomas
| honorific_suffix = MBE
| image = Herbert Samuel ('Bert') Thomas from NPG.jpg
| caption = Portrait (undated, artist unknown)
| birth_name = Herbert Samuel Thomas
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1883|10|13|df=y}}Mark Bryant, ‘Thomas, Herbert Samuel (1883–1966)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/66126, accessed 18 June 2012]
| birth_place = Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1966|09|06|1883|10|13|df=y}}
| death_place = London, England{{cite news |title=Mr. Bert Thomas |date=7 September 1966 |page=14 |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=Mr+Bert+Thomas|work= The Times]}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
| resting_place = Kensal Green Cemetery, London, England
| resting_place_coordinates =
| education =
| occupation = Political cartoonist
| known_for = {{Plainlist|
- Work for Punch magazine
- Wartime propaganda posters
}}
| spouse = Elizabeth Florette Bowen
| children = 6
| awards = MBE
}}
File:INF3-276 Anti-rumour and careless talk Put a sock in it!.jpg during the Second World War]]
Herbert Samuel Thomas {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}} (13 October 1883 – 6 September 1966) was a British political cartoonist contributing to Punch magazine and the creator of well-known British propaganda posters during the First and Second World Wars.{{citation|title=War, Virtual War and Society: The Challenge to Communities|volume=44 |first=Andrew R. |last=Wilson|publisher=Rodopi |year=2008 |page=28|isbn=9789042023475}}
Career
Thomas joined Punch in 1905 and contributed until 1935. During the First World War he was in the Artists Rifles.
Thomas' political cartoons started to be included in gallery exhibitions as artistic caricatures as early as 1913, in an exhibition on the Strand by the Society of Humorous Art and in 1916 his cartoon against the Clyde strikers{{cite news |title=Better Labour Outlook. The Clyde Strikers Returning, Causes Of Discontent. |date=4 March 1915 |page=10 |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=Better+Labour+Outlook+The+Clyde+Strikers+Returning,+Causes+Of+Discontent|work= The Times]}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} with the Kaiser saying "pass friend" to a striker was a featured exhibit in an exhibition of war cartoons in the Graves Galleries on Pall Mall.{{cite news |title=Humour In Art. The Value Of The Grotesque |date=4 December 1913 |page=11 |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=Humour+In+Art+The+Value+Of+The+Grotesque |work=The Times]}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
In 1918 he became nationally known for his cartoon "Arf a mo, Kaiser", drawn in ten minutes for the Smokes for Tommy Weekly Dispatch campaign.{{citation|title=Brushes and Bayonets: Cartoons, Sketches and Paintings of World War I General Military |first=Luci |last=Gosling |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=9781846030956|page=117}}{{citation|title=Seduction Or Instruction?: First World War Posters in Britain and Europe |first1=James|last1=Aulich|first2=John |last2=Hewitt
|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780719075902|page=115}} The cartoon raised nearly a quarter of a million pounds towards "comforts" (tobacco and cigarettes) for front line troops and the image was re-drawn and used during the Second World War with the caption "Arf a mo, 'itler".{{citation|title=Who's Who in World War One |author=J. Bourne |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2001|isbn=9780415141802|page=283}} The Germans banned the "Arf a mo, 'itler" cartoon and to ensure British prisoners did not have their comfort parcels confiscated, he created a variation with the caption "Are we downhearted?"
He was made MBE in the 1918 Birthday Honours.
Personal life
Thomas married Elizabeth Florette Bowen (1887/8–1949) on 7 October 1909. They had four sons and two daughters. His son Peter also drew cartoons for Punch.
Thomas died at his home at 33 Inverness Terrace, Bayswater, London, on 6 September 1966, from a stroke. He was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
The sculptor Ivor Thomas (1873–1913) was his brother.
Bibliography
- {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bert|title=Cartoons and Character Drawing|year=1936|oclc=503806609}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{commons category|Bert Thomas}}
External links
- {{cite web |title=Bert Thomas |url=https://www.cartoons.ac.uk/cartoonist-biographies/s-t/BertThomas.html |website=British Cartoon Archive |publisher=University of Kent}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Bert}}
Category:20th-century British war artists
Category:Punch (magazine) cartoonists
Category:British people of World War I
Category:British people of World War II
Category:People from Newport, Wales
Category:Artists' Rifles soldiers
Category:British editorial cartoonists
Category:British poster artists
Category:British caricaturists
Category:British Army personnel of World War I
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire