Thompson, Harold Underwood (1911 – 1996)

Harold Underwood Thompson original cartoon artwork.

Thompson studied life drawing at Heatherley's from 1931 to 1932, lettering at St Martin's School and Art in 1934, and printing at Bolt Court. In 1935 he also took private classes in illustration at Stephen Spurrier's school and, after applying for a permit, spent two years drawing antique furniture in the V&A from 1936. Self-taught as a cartoonist, he used the pseudonym 'H. Botterill' and contributed drawings to the Bystander from 1935 to 1937, and Night & Day in 1937. In that year, Thompson formed a partnership with his elder sister Beryl, a commercial artist who had studied at the Royal Academy Schools. Beryl had taken the name 'Antonia' on her conversion to Catholicism some years before, and together they produced cartoons for Punch over the signature "Anton" - although the weekly "Anton" cartoons in the Evening Standard in 1939 were entirely Thompson's work.

During the Second World War Thompson served in the Royal Navy, commanding minesweepers and convoy escort vessels, and he was twice mentioned in dispatches. Naval service interrupted his drawing during this period, but Antonia continued to produce cartoons with the signature 'Anton'. After the war they teamed up again, and together produced numerous 'Anton' cartoons for Punch, Lilliput, London Opinion and Men Only. However, Thompson quickly became committed to other work, and in 1949 Antonia took over the cartoons entirely.