William Leigh Ridgewell (1881-1937)
William Leigh Ridgewell was born in Brighton on 8 September 1881, the son of William Ridgewell, a commercial traveller and talented amateur illustrator. On leaving Brighton Grammar School, he became apprenticed to an engraver, and from him learned Heraldic Art, Lithographic Drawing and Seal Engraving. In his spare time, he studied at Brighton School of Art and took a correspondence course in black-and-white illustration. His first publications, at the age of seventeen, were six postcards, and he subsequently worked as a freelance commercial artist producing advertisements and posters.
From the outbreak of the First World War, Ridgewell served in India (1914-19), teaching Lithography to Sepoys and designing posters for the India War Loan and for recruitment purposes. While there, he also drew cartoons and sketches for India Ink and The Looker-On. Back in Britain, he established himself as an illustrator and - particularly - a cartoonist, contributing to numerous periodicals, including the Bystander, the Humorist, London Opinion, Passing Show and Punch. In 1937, Ridgewell jumped from a window while the 'balance of his mind was disturbed', and died on 7 November in Cassell Hospital, Penshurst, Sevenoaks, Kent.
His work is represented in the collections of Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.
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