William H. (Billy) Conn (1895-1973) was a Belfast-born cartoonist, illustrator, watercolourist and poster artist. The son of a lithographer, he was educated at the Ulster Provincial School, now Friends' School, in Lisburn. From 1936 he was a staff artist for The Belfast Telegraph and its sports sister paper Ireland's Saturday Night, drawing a regular strip, "The Doings of Larry O'Hooligan", for the latter. He drew a monthly full-page illustration (two pages in the Christmas edition) for Dublin Opinion, sometimes satirical, sometimes observational scenes of rural and urban Irish life, sometimes ghostly gothic scenes, and also contributed spot cartoons. He created colour posters for Northern Ireland Railways, exhibited his black and white drawings and watercolours, and was a member of the Ulster Arts Club and the Royal Ulster Academy. He died on 25 August 1973 after a three-year illness. He was a lifelong bachelor.

Illustrations and cartoons from Dublin OpinionEdit

"The Eve of his Retirement"

"The Roadside Fiddler"

"The Sense of Beauty"

"I see in the papers that we'll never be able to consume all the food we produce."

HARRASSED MILLINER: "What kind of hat WOULD Moddom like?"
CUSTOMER: "Oh, I leave that entirely to you!"

"The Road from the Bog"

"Escape"

Add a photo to this galleryAdd a photo to this gallery

Other workEdit

"On the Way Home with the Turf", watercolour

"The Darts Match", watercolour

"Student's Union, Belfast", pencil drawing

"Belfast Pub", pen and ink

Add a photo to this galleryAdd a photo to this gallery

ReferencesEdit

• Thomas J. Collins & Charles E. Kelly (eds.), Fifteen Years of Dublin Opinion, Dublin Opinion Ltd, 1937
• Theo Snoddy, Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20th Century, Merlin Publishing, 2002
• Works by William H. Conn at Ross's Fine Art Auctioneers

Online referenceEdit

• W. H. Conn on Wikipedia
• W. H. Conn (1895-1973) at the Dictionary of Ulster Biography