Percy Drake Brookshaw

Percy Drake Brookshaw - 1907 - 1992

Drake Brookshaw was a graphic designer, lithographer and illustrator. Born in Southwark, London, he studied at the Central School of Arts & Crafts, subsequently teaching at Goldsmiths College. He drew many book covers, and designed posters for the London Underground in the late 1920s. He also created illustrations for the pre-war Radio Times. During World War II he was trained as an air gunner but once his artistic skill was acknowledged, he was allotted the task of supervising and designing the camouflage for the Manston Air Base. Later he was commissioned as an air photography interpreter, serving in Sicily and Italy. He and his first wife Doreen, a potter, bought a house in Port Isaac in the 1940s. They set up a pottery in Malaga but returned to Port Isaac every summer. Brookshaw showed his work regularly in Cornwall from 1959.

After a serious illness, this charming and modest artist returned permanently to Cornwall in 1992, settling in Wadebridge. Sadly, he died three days before the preview of a retrospective exhibition of his work in Wadebridge.