Henry Alfred Longson (born 26 March 1907) was a
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
n artist known for his caricatures of people in the news, mostly sporting and entertainment figures.
History
Longson was born in
Carlton, Victoria
Carlton is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. Carlton recorded a population of 16,055 at the 2021 census.
Im ...
, son of Henry Abraham Longson (1868 – 19 January 1915) and grandson of Edward Charles Longson (22 September 1831 – 14 April 1919) of the Stock Exchange, Adelaide.
:His father was educated at
North Adelaide Grammar School
North Adelaide Grammar School, later Whinham College was a private school operated in North Adelaide, South Australia by John Whinham (3 August 1803 – 13 March 1886) and his family.
History
John Whinham
The founder of the school was born at S ...
and studied Law at the University of Adelaide. He and fellow-clerk John Joseph Pascoe were in 1890 organisers of the "Commercial Bank of South Australia Assets Distribution Company", an
Art Union
A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are che ...
they set up to dispose of the assets of
that (failed) bank. It is likely they moved their operation to Broken Hill or some other city where such a scheme was legal.
:He was later secretary of
Cliffs
In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...
Racing Club, which in 1900 he was charged with embezzling.
In January 1942 he was driving a
taxi
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
and living at Donegal Street,
Norwood. He married Helen Salvano (1918–1962) of
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
on 26 December 1942.
He began drawing for the ''
Radio Call'' weekly magazine in 1937 or earlier.
Caricatures of SA horse racing identities published 1948–49 include
J. Bourke,
J. Bromley,
Bob Carling,
Johnny Cilento,
W. Cook,
Bill Cutler,
Ned Dullen,
Noel Fisher,
Jack Hawthorn,
L. Heath,
Graham Heagney,
Tom Hoppo,
George Jesser,
Lindsay Jones,
J. Keating,
Arthur J. Lee,
Ab Macdonald,
Clarrie Neate,
F. Oakey,
Jack Purtell,
Harrie Smith, and
C. H. Wood.
He wrote occasional pieces for ''
The News''. and for radio "Kangaroos in the Clouds", a history of Australian aviation..
He enlisted with the 2nd AIF around 1940, attended the wedding of a niece in 1942, and was ranked sergeant in 1944. The latest references found are dated 1988 and 1992, when he may have been working for
Messenger Press, and have him living in
Belair.
Other interests
Longson enjoyed
harness racing and was owner of a successful horse, Alhambra, trained by T. Gilbert.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Longson, Harry
1907 births
Year of death missing
Australian racehorse owners and breeders
Australian caricaturists
Australian Army personnel of World War II
Australian Army soldiers