WW1 Grimwades Bruce Bairnsfather Old Bill Plate

~ WW1 Grimwades Bruce Bairnsfather Old Bill Plate ~

A fine First World War Grimwades of Staffordshire plate depicting Bruce Bairnsfathers classic cartoon ‘Old Bill’.

Captain (Charles) Bruce Bairnsfather (9 July 1887 – 29 September 1959) was a prominent British humorist and cartoonist. His best-known
cartoon character is Old Bill. Bill and his pals Bert and Alf featured in Bairnsfather’s weekly ‘Fragments from France’ cartoons published weekly
in “The Bystander” magazine during the First World War.

The plate has an orange/brown glaze with a gilt edge. To the centre is a transfer print of ‘Old Bill’. He is pictured opening a tin of Plum and Apples
(Jam?) while the caption underneath reads ‘When the ‘ell is it goin’ to be strawberry?’.

The plate is back stamped ‘Grimwades, Staffordshire, England’

It features a green cartouche with the words ‘Made by the girls of Staffordshire during the winter of 1917 when the boys were in the trenches
fighting for liberty and civilization’.

There is also a small red mark (probably the painters mark) which could be a ‘2’ or an ‘R’.

~ Dimensions ~

The plate has a diameter of 18.5cm (7 ¼ inches).

It weighs 215g.

~ Condition ~

There are a couple of tiny scratches to the image, some wear to the gilt edge and some crazing of the glaze but is in otherwise good condition
with no damages.

#6114