uld one day become a successful illustrator, playwright, and author, ôproved a poor studentö (Holt and Holt[2], p. 1). When he finished with school at Stratford-upon-Avon, Bairnsfather joined his father in the British Army. Unlike his father, the young Bairnsfather discovered during his time with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment that ôarmy life was boring,ö and he left soon after enlisting (Bruce, p. 1).
Feeling that a military career was not in the cards for him, Bairnsfather enrolled as an art student at the John Hassall School of Art, where he found he enjoyed illustration and had a knack for it. Once he completed his training at Hassall, Bairnsfather supported himself as an illustrator for advertisements. These advertisements featured some of the most popular products of his era, including artworks he did for Lipton Tea, PlayerÆs Tobacco, and Flowers Beer (Bruce, p. 1). Despite his success in earning a living and even later in his career as an illustrator, Bairnsfather was never critically acclaimed for his talents. As Holt and Holt[1] (p. 2) maintain, Bairnsfather was regularly ôcriticized by art critics as a poor draughtsman.ö Despite such criticism, Bairnsfather continued to earn a living as a commercial artist prior to 1914.
In 1914, the outbreak of war affected BairnsfatherÆs notions of patriotism and duty. As much as he hated the military, he promptly re-enlisted with the Royal Warwickshires as soon as war broke out. Despite his disdain for military life, Bairnsfather committed himself to the cause of war and within a few weeks was promoted to Lieutenant, seeing action in the Battle of Mons. When this battle ended, the numbers of British soldiers were depleted and, due to shortages of personnel, Bairnsfather was promptly assigned to the effort on the Western Front. This transition would not only have a dramatic impact on Bairnsfather person`lly, but it would inspire him to take up the career which broug...