Bestall, Alfred Edmeades

AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATOR (ENGLAND)
BORN 14 Dec 1892, Mandalay (Burma) - DIED 15 Jan 1986, Porthmadog, Gwynedd: Wern Manor Nursing Home
CAUSE OF DEATH bone cancer
GRAVE LOCATION Brookwood, Surrey: Brookwood Cemetery (Plot 100)

Alfred Bestall was educated at the LCC Central School of Arts and Crafts in Camden. During the first World War he served in Flanders, where he transported troops in London double-decker buses. After the war he finished his studies and Enid Blyton employed him to illustrate her books. He also worked for the Amalgamated Press, Punch and Tatler.

In 1935 he took over Mary Tourtel's Rupert the Bear stories for the Daily Express. He became the author of the stories as well as the illustrations. He did this for thirty years until he retired in 1965. After that he continued to make illustrations and he was an active member of the British Oriogami Society, of which he was the president until his death in 1986. In 1985 he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire. But by that time he was suffering from terminal cancer and he wasn't able to receive his MBE personally.

Images

The grave of Alfred Bestall at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking.
Picture by Androom (25 Jun 2009)

 

Sources
• Clarke, John M., London's Necropolis, A Guide to Brookwood Cemetery, Sutton Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2004
Alfred Bestall - Wikipedia


Bethge, Franz

Published: 31 Oct 2009
Last update: 20 Feb 2022