Marchant was born in Guildfrod and studied art at the Slade School of Art. He was a frequent contributor to Punch from the 1920s onwards and also drew political cartoons for the Evening News in the 1940s and a strip cartoon for a Scottish newspaper in the 1950s and 1960s. In addotion he drew for London Opinion, Daily Mirror, Weekend Mail, Passing Show and children's comics such as Dandy and Micky Mouse Weekly.