Charles Henry Chapman (April 1, 1879 – 1972), who signed his work as C. H. Chapman, was a British

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

and

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

ist best known for his work in boys'

story papers A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and text stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers. Also known in Britain as "boys' weeklies", story papers were phenomenally popul ...

such as ''

The Magnet ''The Magnet'' was a British weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1,683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional publ ...

'' where the character

Billy Bunter William George Bunter is a fictional schoolboy created by Charles Hamilton using the pen name Frank Richards. He features in stories set at Greyfriars School, a fictional English public school in Kent, originally published in the boys' weekly ...

appeared. He later illustrated Bunter cartoon strips and several Bunter books published in the 1950s and 1960s.

Life

Chapman was born in

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, on 1 April 1879, and attended

Kendrick School Kendrick School is a selective girls' grammar school situated in the centre of Reading, Berkshire, UK. In February 2011, Kendrick became an Academy. History The school is named after John Kendrick, a Reading cloth merchant who died in 1624. ...

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

, where he created and illustrated a school magazine, ''The Kendrick Comet''. He studied art at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

, after which he was apprenticed to an architect. He had his first drawing published in the story paper ''The Captain'' in 1900, and over the next ten years drew for story papers and comics including ''Marvel'', ''Pluck'', the '' Boy's Friend'', ''Boy's Herald'', ''Boy's Leader'', ''

Illustrated Chips ''Illustrated Chips'' was a British Comics anthology, comic magazine published between 26 July 1890 and 12 September 1953. Its publisher was the Amalgamated Press, run by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, Alfred Harmsworth. Priced at a ...

'', ''

Comic Cuts ''Comic Cuts'' was a British comic magazine. It was published from 1890 to 1953, and was created by Alfred Harmsworth. In its early days, it inspired other publishers to produce rival comic magazines. ''Comic Cuts'' held the record for the mos ...

'', ''Jester'', ''

Big Budget ''Big Budget'' was a British comic and story paper which ran weekly from 1897 until 1909. History Published by C. Arthur Pearson, ''Big Budget'' was first published on 19 June 1897. Initially comprising three eight page sections; ''The Big Bud ...

'', and ''

Ally Sloper's Half Holiday ''Ally Sloper's Half Holiday'' was a British comics magazine, first published on 3 May 1884. It is regarded to be the first comic strip magazine to feature a recurring character. Star Ally Sloper, a blustery, lazy schemer often found "sloping" ...

''.Alan Clark, ''Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors'', The British Library, 1998, pp. 37-38 From 1911 to 1940 he illustrated Charles Hamilton's

Greyfriars School Greyfriars School is a fictional English public school used as a setting in the long-running series of stories by the writer Charles Hamilton, who wrote under the pen-name of Frank Richards. Although the stories are focused on the Remove (or l ...

stories, featuring Billy Bunter, for ''

'', also drawing the magazine's covers until 1926. When the comic ''

Knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

'' launched in 1938 with a Billy Bunter comic strip, Chapman drew the early instalments before being replaced by

Frank Minnitt Frank John Minnitt (3 September 1894 – 12 May 1958) was a British illustrator and cartoonist who drew for over 100 comic magazines from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is perhaps best known for his depictions of Billy Bunter in the comic ''Knockout'' ...

.Denis Gifford, ''Encyclopedia of Comic Characters'', Longman, 1987, p. 26 On the death of R. J. Macdonald in 1954 he took over illustrating the Billy Bunter novels. In the 1950s and '60s he illustrated Cassell's ''Billy Bunter's Own'' annuals. In the mid-1960s he moved to Wingfield, Tokers Green Lane,

Tokers Green Tokers Green is a hamlet in South Oxfordshire, England, about north of Reading, Berkshire. Its village neighbours are Chazey Heath and Kidmore End Kidmore End is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Oxfordshir ...

, to the north of Caversham, commuting daily from Reading to London by train for many years. He died in 1972, survived by two daughters, Dorothy and Marjorie.John C. Chapman
C. H. Chapman - Reflections from a grandson
''Book and Magazine Collector'', 1 December 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, C H 1879 births 1972 deaths People from Thetford 20th-century British illustrators People educated at Thetford Grammar School Billy Bunter English comics artists English humorists English children's book illustrators