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Joseph Morewood Staniforth (1863-1921)

Joseph Morewood Staniforth (1863-1921)

The cartoons of J M Staniforth provided a significant commentary on Welsh politics and society for three decades. J M Staniforth was born in Cardiff on 16 May 1863, and educated in that city at St John's School. Becoming an apprentice in the Lithographic Department of the Western Mail in 1878, he joined the editorial staff as an illustrator a decade later and, from 1893, drew the daily cartoon. Additionally, he wrote some of its art reviews. He also contributed to the Cardiff Evening Express, the News of the World and Punch (the last in 1906). From 1895, his cartoons were collected in volumes.

In 1998, Peter Lord described J M Staniforth as ‘the most important visual commentator on Welsh affairs ever to work in the country' (The Visual Culture of Wales: Industrial Society, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, page 198).

A member of the South Wales Art Society since its foundation in 1888, Staniforth painted in oil and watercolour. He died in Lynton, Devon, on 17 December 1921. His work is represented in the collections of the National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth).

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