Fred Whisstock

Who was Fred Whisstock?

Frederick William Whisstock was an English artist, cartoonist, and well known illustrator for the W. Britain Toy Company.

Fred Whisstock was born in 1878 in Bow, East London. He moved to Southend in 1887, and was encouraged in his painting by George Reed, the headmaster of London Road Schools. He won several scholarships to attend the Royal College of Arts and also won the Queens's prize for Model Drawing. After two years as a teacher, he joined Waterlow and Sons, the London printers and for the following three years he designed postage stamps for Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and New Zealand.

Around 1903 he became a freelance artist and many of the watercolours in circulation, date from around this time. He worked with the poster artist Charles Dawson and later shared a studio in Jessle Chambers with the famous engraver J.A.C. Harrison. During this period he drew three caricatures that were published in Vanity fair. He continued to design book plates and, furthermore, designed a set of stamps for Liberia for Perkins Bacon. His cartoons were regularly published in newspapers and periodicals.