Graham Howard Shepard (1907 – 20 September 1943)1 was an English illustrator and cartoonist.
He was the son of Ernest H. Shepard, the illustrator of Winnie-the-Pooh and The Wind in the Willows. He was educated at Marlborough College and Lincoln College, Oxford.2 At Marlborough he was a member of the college's secret 'Society of Amici'3 where he found himself a contemporary of John Betjeman and Anthony Blunt, and a close friend of Louis MacNeice. MacNeice's "He had a date" (1943) is loosely based on the life and death of Shepard.
At Oxford he was also a contemporary and friend of MacNeice and Osbert Lancaster.
Following in his father's footsteps, he became an illustrator and cartoonist, working for the Illustrated London News.
Shepard served in the RNVR during World War II. Lieutenant Shepard was lost along with all but one crew member when their ship, HMS Polyanthus, was sunk by the German submarine U-952 in the mid-Atlantic on 21 September 1943. The solitary survivor of Polyanthus drowned two days later on the morning of 23 September when HMS Itchen, the ship that had rescued him, was sunk by another German submarine, U-666.4
Shepard was survived by his wife, Ann Faith Shepard, and their young daughter, Minette.
Shepard's younger sister, Mary Shepard, also became an illustrator, and is best known for her illustrations of P. L. Travers' Mary Poppins.
References
References
- Millie Arnet; Michelle Frisque; Beth Kean; Elizabeth T. Mahoney. "Resource Guide – Ernest Howard Shepard". The Elizabeth Nesbitt Room Illustrators Project. University of Pittsburgh ULS. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
- Allison, Jonathan. Letters of Louis MacNeice.
- Paths of Progress: A History of Marlborough College by Rt Hon Peter Brooke MP and Thomas Hinde
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMS Polyanthus (K 47)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 12 January 2025.