Bruce Bairnsfather Captain ( Charles ) Bruce Bairnsfather ( 9 July 188729 September 1959 ) was a prominent British humorist and cartoonist . His best - known cartoon character is Old Bill . Bill and his pals Bert and Alf featured in Bairnsfather ' s weekly " Fragments from France " cartoons published weekly in " The Bystander " magazine during the First World War . Early life . Born to a military family in Murree , British India ( now Pakistan ) , he spent his early life in India , but was brought to England in 1895 to be educated at the United Services College , Westward Ho ! , then at Stratford - upon - Avon . Initially intending a military career , he failed entrance exams to Sandhurst and Woolwich Academies but joined the Cheshire Regiment . He resigned in 1907 to become an artist , studying at the John Hassall School of Art . Unsuccessful at first , he worked as an electrical engineer . Working this capacity for the Old Memorial Theatre , Stratford , brought him into acquaintance with Marie Corelli , who introduced him to Thomas Lipton , a connection that led to commissions to draw advertising sketches for Lipton tea , Player ' s cigarettes , Keen ' s Mustard , and Beecham ' s Pills . World War I service . In 1914 he joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and served with a machine gun unit in France until 1915 , when he was hospitalised with shell shock and hearing damage sustained during the Second Battle of Ypres . Posted to the 34th Division headquarters on Salisbury Plain , he developed his humorous series for the " Bystander " about life in the trenches , featuring " Old Bill " , a curmudgeonly soldier with trademark walrus moustache and balaclava . The best remembered of these shows Bill with another trooper in a muddy shell hole with shells whizzing all around . The other trooper is grumbling and Bill advises : Many of his cartoons from this period were collected in " Fragments From France " ( 1914 ) and the autobiographical " Bullets & Billets " ( 1916 ) . Despite the immense popularity with the troops and massive sales increase for the " Bystander " , initially there were objections to the " vulgar caricature " . Nevertheless , their success in raising morale led to Bairnsfather ' s promotion and receipt of a War Office appointment to draw similar cartoons for other Allies forces . Post - World War I . In 1921 Bairnsfather married Cecilia Agnes Scott . " Old Bill " and Bairnsfather himself continued in popularity between the World Wars . Many police officers of the time had similar facial hair , and that may have led to British police being referred to as " The Bill " . Bairnsfather was the subject of one of the first British sound film s in 1927 , wrote and directed the 1928 Canadian film " Carry On Sergeant " , and took part in the early Alexandra Palace television transmissions in 1936 . Old Bill appeared in numerous books , plays , musicals and films . In 1939 he published an autobiography , " Wide Canvas " . In World War II , he continued Old Bill work , but was not asked to help with the British war effort . Instead , he became official cartoonist to the American forces in Europe , contributing to " Stars and Stripes " and " Yank " , whilst residing at Cresswell House in Clun , Shropshire . He also drew cartoons at American bases and nose art on aircraft . His works are considered to have influenced artists such as Bill Mauldin . In later life , he had found himself typecast as the creator of Old Bill , and his " Times " obituary concluded of his career that he was " fortunate in possessing a talent . . . which suited almost to the point of genius one particular moment and one particular set of circumstances ; and he was unfortunate in that he was never able to adapt , at all happily , his talent to new times and new circumstances " . He died in 1959 of complications of bladder cancer , in Worcester . Legacy . A commemorative blue plaque appears outside one of his old studios , 1 Stirling Street , Kensington ( ) . The blue plaque was initiated by Tonie and Valmai Holt who later wrote Bairnsfather ' s biography ( In Search of the Better Ole - the Life , the Works and the Collectables of Bruce Bairnsfather ) and also sponsored a memorial plaque to Bairnsfather on the cottage at St Yvon in Belgium at the edge of Plugstreet Wood where Bairnsfather drew his first ' trench ' cartoons . A plaque commemorating Bruce Bairnsfather was unveiled at his former home , Victoria Spa Lodge , Bishopton , Stratford upon Avon ( ) on 10 September 2005 by cartoonist Bill Tidy . The plaque was instigated by Mark Warby , Editor of The Old Bill Newsletter , the official journal for Bairnsfather enthusiasts and collectors . On 24 September 2011 a plaque commemorating Bruce Bairnsfather was unveiled on the wall of Colwall Royal British Legion Club in Crescent Road , Colwall , near Malvern in Worcestershire . The plaque was instigated by the Colwall Village Society and was unveiled by Mark Warby . Bairnsfather lived in Colwall from 1951 to 1954 and was well - known at the British Legion Club in the village . Bill & Alphie ' s , the Royal Military College of Canada ' s on - campus cadet pub in Kingston , Ontario is named after Bruce Bairnsfather ' s Great War cartoon characters . Yeo Hall at the College of Canada features sculptures of Bill and Alphie . There is a large mural drawn on the wall of the main staircase in the Royal British Legion Victory House Club in Ludlow Shropshire . References . Tonie and Valmai Holt , In Search of the Better ' Ole , A Biography of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather , including a listing of his Works and Collectables , Pen and Sword Books , 2001 , ISBN 0 85052 764 - 3