Phil May was born near Leeds in 1864. Orphaned at the age of nine, he endured several years of poverty. He moved from one job to another and ended up begging on the streets. May was a talented artist and he eventually discovered he could make a living by drawing stage celebrities and selling the pictures to theatre fans. This work resulted in the editor of the St. Stephen's Review employing him as a cartoonist. In 1885 he moved to Australia where he worked for the Sydney Bulletin. He returned to London in 1890 and did some book illustrating until he found employment with the Graphic. He began contributing cartoons to Punch in 1893 and two years later became a member of the staff. For twelve years (1892-1904) produced a Phil May Annual. Although May's cartoons were rarely overtly political, he had a deep sympathy for the poor. Phil May had a unique style. He brought a new simplicity of line to popular cartooning. Not everybody understood his work and one editor asked: "Couldn't you finish up your drawings a bit more?" Phil May was a heavy drinker. This and his early poverty caused him serious health problems. He suffered from a wasting disease and when he died in 1903, aged thirty-nine, he weighed only five stone. source: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk