Hugh Stuart Menzies (18861959) was a British advertising executive. Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in 1922 he set up the

Stuart Advertising Agency Stuart's Advertising Agency was, during the 1920s and 1930s, one of the leading London advertising agencies.{{Cite book , last=Jarvis , first=Paul , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uVJpCAAAQBAJ&newbks=0 , title=Better by Design: Shaping th ...

that worked with contemporary artists of the time such as

Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...

Edward McKnight Kauffer Edward McKnight Kauffer (14 December 1890 – 22 October 1954) was an American artist and graphic designer who lived for much of his life in the United Kingdom. He worked mainly in poster art, but was also active as a painter, book illustrator a ...

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, Order of Merit, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract art, abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life. Background and training Nicholson was ...

, and

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadi ...

. Menzies initially worked for

Fortnum & Mason Fortnum & Mason (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an upmarket department store in Piccadilly, London, with additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station, Heathrow Airport in London and K11 Musea In Hong ...

running their Invalid Delicasies Food Department before becoming a

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

and producing the Commentaries for Fortnum & Mason - a new style of

direct mail Advertising mail, also known as direct mail (by its senders), junk mail (by its recipients), mailshot or admail (North America), letterbox drop or letterboxing (Australia) is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail. The d ...

booklets illustrated by W Hendy, Menzies and Edward Bawden.see Hugh Stuart Menzies, 'The Stuart Menzies Style of Advertising', ''Commercial Art & Industry'', 1926-7. The Stuart Advertising Agency were commissioned to design the logo of Imperial Airways and some of the ''Shell on the Road'' publicity for

Shell-Mex & BP Shell-Mex and BP Ltd was a British joint venture between petroleum companies Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) and BP. It was formed in 1932 when both companies decided to merge their United Kingdom marketing operations,Reference and contact details: GB ...

. Menzies's business partner,

Marcus Brumwell John Robert Marcus Brumwell (20 April 1901 – January 1983) was a British advertising pioneer, designer, businessman, political activist, and art collector. Advertising Marcus joined H. Stuart Menzies's small advertising agency, Stuart Advert ...

, headed the firm when Menzies retired around 1938-9. Menzies moved with his wife, Elizabeth to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

and later settled in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He died in December 1959 whilst on a cruise near Gibraltar.

Bibliography

*Menzies, H Stuart : 'Let's Forget Business', the commentaries of Fortnum & Mason, illus by W M Hendy, A & C Black, 1930 *Menzies, H Stuart : 'Sport and Fun All the Year Round', illus by W M Hendy,Herbert Jenkins, 1926 *Skipwith, P : 'Entertaining a la Carte, Edward Bawden and Fortnum and Mason', Mainstone Press, Norwich 2008

References

1886 births 1959 deaths Businesspeople from London British advertising executives 20th-century English businesspeople {{UK-business-bio-1880s-stub