Geoffrey Mark Clement Huskinson (25 September 1935 – 8 March 2018) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

cartoonist and first-class cricketer. His cartoons found prominence from the mid-1970s, featuring in many exhibits, books and newspapers.

Life and career

The eldest of four children, Huskinson was born at

Langar Hall Langar Hall is a Grade II listed house, now a hotel, next to the church in Langar, Nottinghamshire. The current building dates back to the 18th century, but parts are "probably a survival of an earlier building". History The Howes came into poss ...

to the first-class cricketer Geoffrey Huskinson, Sr. and his wife, Carmen Imogen de las Casas, who was the daughter of a Spanish nobleman from Cuba. He began to lose his hearing aged ten, shortly before attending

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the groun ...

. It was his deteriorating hearing that sparked his interest in drawing. Unable to concentrate in class, he began doodling on his desk. After leaving Ampleforth, he was offered places at

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

and the

Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art The Ruskin School of Art, known as the Ruskin, is an art school at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division. History The Ruskin grew out the Oxford School of Art, which was founded in 1865 and later became ...

, but accepted a place at

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

. His time there was brief, with Huskinson moving to New Zealand where he worked on a sheep station until 1955. He returned to England, where he bought a farm in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. Huskinson played a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

match for the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Willi ...

against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1959. He had little success in what was his only foray into first-class cricket, scoring 3 runs in the Free Foresters first-innings before being dismissed by David Russell, while in their second-innings he was dismissed by David Sayer for 7 runs. He married Judith Chadfield in 1961, with the couple having three sons. During this period he worked for

Aveling-Barford Aveling-Barford was a large engineering company making road rollers, motorgraders, front loaders, site dumpers, dump trucks and articulated dump trucks in Grantham, England. In its time, it was an internationally known company. History Rus ...

as their representative in Africa and the Middle East, before leaving in 1967 when the company was taken over by

British Leyland British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...

. He took up art once more in the mid-1970s, initially specialising in

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...

and

sculpting Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. He later exhibited some cartoons he had drawn, and decided to focus as a cartoonist after they sold out within 30 minutes. He exhibited across the world between 1980 and 2007, and was regularly selling over 3,000 prints a year. His illustrations filled a number of books, most prominently those about horse racing and cookery. His wife died in 2007, with Huskinson briefly marrying Sue Ward, who ran his dealing network. In 2014, he moved to

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

to live by the golf course at Son Parc, where he died in March 2018.

Family

His great-grandfather was

Thomas Bayley Thomas Bayley may refer to: *Thomas Bayley (politician) (1846–1906), English politician *Thomas Bayley (academic) (died 1706), English academic *Thomas Butterworth Bayley (1744–1802), English magistrate, agriculturist and philanthropist * Tom Ba ...

, the Member of Parliament for

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

. His sister,

Imogen Skirving Imogen Skirving (1937 – 1 July 2016) was a British hotelier, who turned her family home Langar Hall into an award-winning country house hotel. Guests at Langar Hall included Keira Knightley and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and former Labour le ...

, was killed in a road accident in 2016 when she came to visit Huskinson in Menorca.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huskinson, Geoffrey 1935 births 2018 deaths People from Rushcliffe (district) Cricketers from Nottinghamshire People educated at Ampleforth College Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art English cricketers Free Foresters cricketers English cartoonists 20th-century English farmers English deaf people English people of Spanish descent 21st-century English farmers