Charles Gordon McClure (1885–1933), also known as Dyke White, was a Scottish artist, best known for his

political cartoon A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...

s in the Scottish press.

Biography

He was born in Garlieston,

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

, the youngest of the seven children of William McClure and Catherine, née Puckett, and was always known by the family as Gordon. Gordon’s father was originally a shopkeeper in Garlieston, but the family moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

some time between 1891 and 1901. Gordon attended the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, an ...

, and was awarded a Haldane Travelling Scholarship which enabled him to travel on the continent. He was initially a painter, and exhibited at the Glasgow Royal Institute of Fine Arts and other Scottish exhibitions. One of his oil paintings is said to have caused a furore in the

Glasgow Art Gallery Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

. It was called “The Intruder”, and was a painting of a lady bathing in the bulrushes with someone peeping in at her. He found he had a talent as a cartoonist, and joined the Glasgow branch of the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Structure There is ...

in November 1917, moving to London in June 1926 and back to Glasgow in January 1929. He became a well-known cartoonist, working for Outram Press in Glasgow. His cartoons give a lively take on Public Life in the 1920s and 30's. They were regularly printed in various Glasgow papers, including the Daily Record and Mail, and the

Scottish Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

, and also for a period in London papers. He always worked under the pseudonym Dyke White, a name which harks back to his childhood in Garlieston (White Dyke Farm.) He worked briefly as a political cartoonist for the

Rand Daily Mail ''The Rand Daily Mail'' was a South African newspaper published from 1902 until it was controversially closed in 1985 after adopting an outspoken anti-apartheid stance in the midst of a massive clampdown on activists by the security forces. The ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

, South Africa, but returned home, probably because he was disillusioned by the politics there. Gordon was married to Hilda (née Butler), and they had three children – Ramsey, Robin and Rachel. He died on 25 July 1933 in

Lenzie Lenzie () is an affluent town by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in the East Dunbartonshire council area of Scotland. It is about north-east of Glasgow city centre and south of Kirkintilloch. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 8,873. ...

, near Glasgow. After his untimely death, a Memorial Exhibition of his cartoons was held by the Glasgow Art Club.

References

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External links

fulltable.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Dyke 20th-century Scottish painters Scottish editorial cartoonists People from Dumfries and Galloway 1885 births 1933 deaths