Old Bill Mural

Old Bill drawn by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather in the Mess of the Essex Scottish in 8 December 1931.

During the First World War, British Captain Bruce Bairnsfather was a prominent figure amongst the First World War soldiers. He was famous for his cartoon depiction of “Old Bill”, a soldier who portrayed soldier and trench life experiences. Spartacus Educational noted that “veterans of the Western Front have paid outmost universal testimony to Bairnsfather as a historian of the conditions in which they fought. Old Bill had the sense of humor which the soldiers brought to bear against the life or death.” Furthermore, Bairnsfather was commissioned in various wartime newspapers to draw the infamous Old Bill to drive sales on the frontlines.

In 1931, the Essex Scottish in the Armouries on University Avenue East, Windsor, Ontario received a visit from the cartoonist, Captain Bruce Bairnsfather. Bairnsfather painted on a plaster wall in the Officers’ Mess a depiction of Old Bill that was emblematic of the imperial fighting man in the trenches. The painting was titled, “Once upon a time” and signed by Bairnsfather. Similarly, Captain Bruce Bairnsfather visited the Kent Regiment in 1948 and created illustrations of Old Bill in the Chatham Armoury Officers’ and Sergeant’ messes.

In October 2004, the Army Reserve units in the Windsor Armouries on University Avenue East moved to the new Major F.A. Tilston, VC Armoury and Police Training Centre on Sandwich Street, Windsor. The portrait of Old Bill could not be removed from the Officer’s Mess plaster wall. In 2005, The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment Association commissioned Reginald St. Louis to make a life-size photographic reproduction of the Old Bill illustration for the new Officers’ Mess. The University of Windsor eventually took ownership of the old Windsor Armouries and made a generous act to preserve the original Bairnsfather cartoon in the renovated building.

The Tilson Armoury is home to part of the artifact collection of The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment Association including multiple Old Bill artifacts. In addition to the photographed illustration from the old Armoury, a dishware set was donated to the Association featuring Old Bill’s likeness by Jack H. Graham and family in honour of A.H. Graham, a World War I veteran. The set contains two teacups, two saucers, and one plate. Each item is decorated with a painted illustration of Old Bill.

Story By Taylor Blackmere, Canada Summer Jobs 2022 Participant
with The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment Association.

Sources

• Duty Nobly Done, The History of The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment by Sandy Antal and Kevin R. Shackleton, 2006 – Chapter 9.
• Bruce Bairnsfather. Spartacus Educational. By John Simkin. January 1997
• The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment Association artifact collection

Old Bill plate (From the Old Bill dishware collection) donated to the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment Association artifact collections by the Graham family.