"Parker P.C.", Funny Cuts, 1910
William Richard Spurrier was born in Portsea, Hampshire, in the first quarter of 1869, the son of Samuel William Spurrier, a draper, and his wife Mary Ann, née Read. He drew comics for various publishers, including:
- "The Three Lodgers" (1897-99) and "Our Naval Brigade" (1899) for Larks!
- "Bigmouf, Yellerskin and Lillybreeches" (1899) for Funny Wonder
- "Bragg the Bobby" (1903) for The Gleam
- "Birdie and Napoleon" (1904-06) for World's Comic
- "Bill Binnacle and Ben Bobstay" (1906) for The Halfpenny Comic
- "Constable Parker" (1909) for Picture Fun
- "Parker P.C." (1910) for Funny Cuts (based on a character played by music hall comedian Charles Austin)
- "P.C. Bragg (1912) for My Funny Bone
- "P.C. Neverwait" (1915) for Comic Life
- "Pushful Perkins" (1916) and "Constable Neverwait" (1918) for Sparks
- "Brainy Bert" (1929) for Crackers
He was unmarried and living in Portsmouth with his parents in the 1901 census, and with his widowed mother in the 1911 census. A William R. Spurrier married Edith F. Mitchell in Portsmouth in 1926, when our Will would have been 57. There don't appear to have been any children of the marriage. He died in Portsmouth in the first quarter of 1938.
References[]
- Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, p. 156
- Denis Gifford, Encyclopedia of Comic Characters, Longman, 1987, pp. 27, 222
