Lewis Ross Higgins was born in Hackney, London, in the first quarter of 1884, the son of an electrical engineer. By 1911 he was an illustrator working for the Weekly Herald. He created the weekly cartoon The Gay Goblins for the Family Herald. From 1914 he was the editor of Chuckles, and he also illustrated "Herlock Sholmes" for the Greyfriar's Herald, parodying the Sherlock Holmes illustrations of Sydney Paget. He wrote and drew for various Amalgamated Press weeklies. He suffered from a glandular condition and was very fat, and it believed he was the inspiration for Billy Bunter. He died in St. Albans in 1919, aged only 34. The Gay Goblins was taken over by Ernest Shaw.
References[]
- Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, p. 77
- Ernest Shaw at Lambiek Comiclopedia