Sir Gordon Edward George Minhinnick (13 June 1902 – 19 February 1992) was a New Zealand

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

. He was born at

Torpoint Torpoint () is a town and civil parish on the Rame Peninsula in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated opposite the city of Plymouth across the Hamoaze which is the tidal estuary of the River Tamar. Torpoint had a populatio ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, educated at Kelly College,

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, and left for New Zealand in 1921 where he studied architecture for four years. In 1926 he joined the ''New Zealand Free Lance'' as cartoonist, but soon transferred to the '' Christchurch Sun'' and thence to the ''Auckland Sun''. He joined the ''

New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand ...

'' as a political cartoonist in 1930 and although he officially retired in 1976, contributed cartoons to the newspaper for more than another decade. In the 1950 King's Birthday Honours, Minhinnick was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, and in the 1976 Queen's Birthday Honours he was promoted to

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

), for services as a cartoonist.

Career

Grant (1987) describes Minhinnick as "pre-eminent among New Zealand cartoonists. His work for the country's largest newspaper was widely syndicated and of a consistently high standard; witty rather than barbed, and with a feel for caricature that gave the cartoons an added dimension". Minhinnick was strongly influenced by New Zealand cartoonist David Low, and was offered, but declined, Low's job at the

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

when Low left the London newspaper in 1949. Minhinnick also taught Les Gibbard (the cartoonist who went on to replace Bill Papas, Low's successor, then at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'') in Auckland during the 1950s. Minhinnick illustrated several popular New Zealand books ("Murphy's Moa", "From N to Z", "Trout at Taupo", "Four Seasons of Country Diary" ), and he regularly published collections of his work (such as "The Minhinnick annual", "Min's Sauce" to "Just a Min").

Death

Minhinnick was buried at Purewa Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank.

References

External links

Biography at Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New ZealandEssay at Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
(Retrieved 7 Oct 2008)

- ''"Better not interfere, old boy - he might lose his temper!"'', Gordon Minhinnick, New Zealand Herald, 7 January 1964
Search for images relating to Gordon Minhinnick on DigitalNZ
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minhinnick, Gordon New Zealand editorial cartoonists The New Zealand Herald New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Torpoint People educated at Kelly College British emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand people of Cornish descent 1902 births 1992 deaths Burials at Purewa Cemetery