Bruce Bairnsfather

Bruce Bairnsfather
Bruce Bairnsfather was a British cartoonist and writer, best known for his World War I-era cartoons featuring the character "Old Bill," a grizzled soldier with a walrus mustache. His most famous work, "Fragments from France," is a collection of humorous and poignant wartime cartoons that captured the experiences of soldiers in the trenches. Bairnsfather's depictions of life during the war resonated with both troops and civilians, making him a beloved figure. After the war, he continued to work as an illustrator, author, and stage writer, although none of his later work achieved the same level of fame.

Author's Books:


FOREWORDBy the Editor of "The Bystander."HEN Tommy went out to the great war, he went smiling, and singing the latest ditty of the halls. The enemy scowled. War, said his professors of kultur and his hymnsters of hate, could never be waged in the Tipperary spirit, and the nation that sent to the front soldiers who sang and laughed must be the very decadent England they had all along denounced... more...

CHAPTER I LANDING AT HAVRE—TORTONI'S—FOLLOWTHE TRAM LINES—ORDERS FOR THE FRONT   Gliding up the Seine, on a transport crammed to the lid with troops, in the still, cold hours of a November morning, was my debut into the war. It was about 6 a.m. when our boat silently slipped along past the great wooden sheds, posts and complications of Havre Harbour. I had spent most of the twelve-hour trip... more...