Charles Crombie

1885 - 1967

Charles Exeter Crombie (30 April 1880 - 1967) created the best-known series of golf cartoons in the form of an oblong book called 'The Rules of Golf'. Published at the beginning of the twentieth Century by the French sparkling water company, Perrier. The book showed golfers dressed in medieval costumes in impossible situations accompanied with captions and rules. Upon the success of the book two further publications were produced, 'The laws of Cricket' and 'Motoritis'.
Crombie was a son of a Scots architect, James Crombie, and was born in Dumfries, Scotland. During the 1880's and 90's Charles grew up in Lambeth, Surrey, his father being partner in the London architectural practice Byrne & Crombie.
By 1901 Charles Crombie was working as a sculptor and artist specialising in cartoons and publication illustrations. Crombie's work on golf was quite prolific and included several calendars, postcards and the Royal Doulton Golf Series Ware which was introduced in 1911.
Crombie continued to produce illustrations for books and magazines throughout the 1920's and 1930's, including the 'Bystander', 'Punch', 'Illustrated News and 'Graphic'. He illustrated 11 of P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves short stories published in The Strand Magazine between 1926 and 1930.
Charles Crombie died in 1967 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, aged 86.

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