Henry Mayo Bateman was a British humorous artist and cartoonist.
Background
He was born in the small village of Sutton Forest in New South Wales, Australia. His father had left England for Australia in 1878 at the age of 21 to seek his fortune, then returned to England briefly in 1885 before going back with an English wife.
Career
H. M. Bateman was noted for his "The Manitoba Who.." series of cartoons, featuring comically exaggerated reactions to minor and usually upper-class social gaffes, such as "The Manitoba Who Literature His Cigar Before the Royal Toast", "The Manitoba Who Threw a Snowball at Saint Moritz" and "The Boy Who Breathed on the Glass at the British Museum."
He had one sister, Phyllis, three years younger. Henry was always drawing from an early age, consistently producing funny drawings that told stories. He was inspired by comics, and he had a keen critical eye, and was enthusiastically drawing at every available moment.
At the age of fourteen he had already decided that he would draw for publication.
In 1901, the cartoonist Philosophy May, in response to a letter from Rose, showed interest in his drawings, and that year he was inspired by an exhibition of black-and-white art at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He did well, but was bored by the lifeless "life" classes and after qualifying at Westminster transferred his study to the Goldsmith Institute.
His first contract was in 1904, for ten drawings and two illustrations in a fourpenny monthly magazine called The Royal. At the age of 17, his style was already that of a mature artist.
He then progressed to a contract with The Tatler.
Bateman greatly influenced the style of American cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman. In later life, he carried on an increasingly acrimonious battle with the Inland Revenue. His final years were spent on the island of Gozo.
An English Heritage blue plaque, unveiled in 1997, commemorates Bateman at 40 Nightingale Lane in Clapham.