"Little White Chief of the Cherokees", The Dandy, 1939-41
George Ramsbottom was born in Pendleton, Manchester on 5 July 1903, son of John Henry Ramsbottom, the foreman of a cotton warehouse, and his wife Sarah. He was educated at Longworthy Road School, which he left at 17 to join the Manchester Evening News as a copy boy. The editor of the newspaper saw his drawings, and wrote a humorous travelogue series, "Percy Phlage", for him to illustrate. He also did freelance work for the E. D. Hawksey commercial art studio, and drew cartoons for The Northern Light and The Brewery Record.
In 1936 he moved to Dundee and joined DC Thomson as a staff artist. He served in the Royal Signals in India during the Second World War, and returned to Thomsons on demobilisation. He drew illustrations for a variety of their publications, and continued to draw for their comics until the 1970s, apart from a break in the mid-50s, suffering from a heart complaint. Strips he drew included:
- "Invisible Dick" (1937-39), "Blackhawk's Boy" (1939), "Little White Chief of the Cherokees" (1939-41), "Barney's Bear" (1950-54), "The Tickler Twins on the Redskin Trail", "Charlie the Chimp" (1957-60) and "Mystery Dick" for The Dandy
- "Coal Black Jonah", "Lucky Dicky Dolphin", "Danger in the Hills", "Johnny Rover", and "Who on Earth is Peter Planet?" for The Topper
- "Black Bob" for The Weekly News
- "The Raid on Rommel" for The Victor
- "Scrappy: A Boy All Alone" (1977-78), "The Grudge Fights of Clutcher Kane", "Flipper Feet" and "Table Tennis Tough" for The Wizard
- "Peg o'the Peaks", "Sally and her Seal", "Leap-Along Lesley", "Flora the Flower Girl", "The Sleepy Ballerina", "Madame Petrova", "Freckles and her Frog", "The Secret of the Dancing Dolls", "No Heart to Dance" and "Head of the Clan" for Bunty
- "Everybody Wants Nancy", "Colleen and the Last Witch", "Skinflint School" and "The Barrel-Organ Ballerina" for Judy
He died in Dundee in 1989. He had married twice, but had no children.
References[]
- Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, pp. 140-141
- Denis Gifford, Encyclopedia of Comic Characters, Longman, 1987
- George Ramsbottom thread at Comics UK Forum