Arquivo RC0228 - J. W. Bengough fonds

John Wilson Bengough, cartoonist, was born on 7 April 1851 in Toronto and educated in the Whitby district and grammar schools. In 1873 he founded Grip, a humorous weekly. He provided cartoons for the publication as well as articles and poems for twenty years. In 1892 he became the cartoonist of the Montreal Star before moving on to the Toronto Globe. His cartoons also appeared in the Morning Chronicle in London, England. An advocate of the single tax, prohibition and free trade, Bengough wrote a number of political pamphlets such as The Gin Miller Primer (1898). He also published two books of poetry, Motley: Verses Grave and Gay (1895) and In Many Keys (1902). Lecturing was another of Bengough's many skills, and he made several lectures tours across Canada and the United States giving "Chalk Talks"; in 1909 he made a lecture tour of Australia and New Zealand.