Donald McGill

Comic postcard artist, born in London, UK. A junior to a naval architect, he studied cartooning by correspondence course. In 1905 he sold his first comic card for six shillings to Asher's Pictorial Postcards - two million copies were sold. Famous for his outsize women in bathing costumes, paddling alongside weedy henpecked husbands, and for the double meanings in his captions, he did not receive critical attention until 1941. He is estimated to have drawn 500 cards a year over 50 years, with sales of over 300 million during his career.

Donald Fraser Gould McGill, (January 28, 1875 – October 13, 1962) was an English graphic artist whose name has become synonymous with a whole genre of saucy seaside postcards that were sold mostly in small shops in British coastal towns.

He has been called 'the king of the saucy postcard', and his work is still collected and appreciated for his artistic skill, its power of social observation and earthy sense of humour.

McGill was born in London in 1875. He lost a foot in a school rugby accident, and, having studied at Blackheath Proprietary School, spent most of his life in the Blackheath area of south-east London (living at 5 Bennett Park, SE3 (blue plaque).

He was a naval draughtsman until his career in postcards began accidentally in 1904 when an in-law encouraged him after seeing an illustrated get-well card he had made for a sick nephew.

McGill spent virtually the whole of his career creating the distinctive colour washed drawings which were then reproduced as postcards.

In 1941 the renowned author and commentator George Orwell wrote an essay on his work entitled The Art of Donald McGill.

He fell foul of several local censorship committees which culminated in a major trial held in Lincoln on 15 July 1954. The wider result was a devastating blow to the saucy postcard industry. Many postcards were destroyed as a result and retailers cancelled orders.

In the late 1950s, the level of censorship eased off and the market recovered. In 1957, McGill gave evidence before the House Select Committee set up in order to amend the 1857 Act.

Over the span of his career McGill produced an estimated 12,000 designs, of which 200 million copies are estimated to have been printed. Despite their wide circulation, McGill earned no royalties from his designs;

One of his postcards, "Do you like Kipling?"