Raymond Sheppard and Geoffrey Pollard

 

Lilliput March-April 1951 p.65 (Original Art)

The search for a biography of an author can be fascinating in itself. I hate writing information I'm not sure of and Geoffrey Alan Pollard, whose work in Lilliput Sheppard illustrated four times, set me a merry chase.

Lilliput March-April 1951 p.5

So we'll start with this small biography in the same issue as the illustration above. This tells me he was born c. 1926-1927 and is a barrister.

Lilliput March-April 1951 p.65

Lilliput March-April 1951 p.66-67

The above article from Lilliput (March-April 1951), "The ringing flight" by Geoffrey Pollard appeared over three pages - and I show the full article here as a thank you to any falconers who visit, as they helped me in my search for our Geoffrey Pollard.

Lilliput Aug-Sep 1952 p.72

Lilliput Aug-Sep 1952 p.73

Lilliput Aug-Sep 1952 p.74a

Lilliput Aug-Sep 1952 p.74b

The above article, a year later (Lilliput Aug-Sep 1952) "First blood" shows  a peregrine on post with second peregrine in the background; a peregrine taking off; a peregrine chasing a grouse on a golf course and finally a peregrine hitting a mallard in flight

Lilliput Sep- Oct 1953 p.52

Lilliput Sep- Oct 1953 p.53a

Lilliput Sep- Oct 1953 p.53b

Lilliput Sep- Oct 1953 p.54

In Lilliput Sep-Oct, 1953, we get "Winged shotgun". Pollard writes of his experiences of "long-wings", such as peregrines and focuses here on "short-wings" such as goshawks. Sheppard illustrates a goshawk attacking partridge; a flying partridge; what looks to me to be Pollard himself with a goshawk and finally a goshawk catching a rabbit.

Lilliput January 1957 p.28

Lilliput January 1957 p.29

Lilliput changed from the pocket-sized magazine it was famous for, to a larger size more in-keeping with other magazines in January 1954. Pollard's last piece for Lilliput was  "Right and left" which appeared in January 1957 and told the tale of two eyasses which apparently  are "hawks which has been brought up from the nest, as distinguished from a hawk caught and trained". The two illustrations reflect Pollard's story where, when the two falcons are on the moor, a crowd might gather and secondly one bird which was lost, suddenly appears aggressively, protecting its part of the sky from its sister!

Christine Sheppard kindly let me photograph the original artwork for this story - crudely I have to confess, but that's my fault, but I still think worth showing

Note the Art Editor's annotations!

I found this article in an Australian newspaper:

THESE FALCONS GO TO WAR
Geoffrey Pollard is a barrister who has been interested in falconry for many years. In a BBC talk he spoke about this mediaeval pastime which, although long extinct as a sport, still exists amongst a small body of enthusiasts which has kept and trained hawks for hundreds of years. In nearly every war. including the last one, both sides have used trained falcons to Intercept enemy carrier pigeons. In 1947 and 1948 peregrine falcons were used on some United Kingdom aerodromes to clear them of birds before aircraft took off and landed. Seagulls were the worst offenders in standing about on the airfields and as peregrines would not chase them it was decided to get gyrfalcons from Iceland. Gyrfalcons are the largest, fastest and most powerful of all the falcon family.
FOUR FEET WINGS
"They are also the rarest," said Pollard, "Gyrs breed on and above the Arctic Circle and no bird that flies, not even the wild swan is safe from them. They have a wing span of rather more than four feet and the female, called the falcon as opposed to the male or "tiercel", which is smaller, weighs over four pounds. They can drive eagles with the ease of a collie driving sheep." From: Narromine News and Trangie Advocate (NSW), 3 February 1953, page 9 c/o Trove

Pollard, as it says above, gave a 15 minute talk on the BBC Home Service entitled "Gyrfalcons" on 26th September 1952, at 19:45. The Radio Times states 

Talk by Geoffrey Pollard
The speaker, one of the small band of falconers in this country, describes an expedition to northern Norway in search of young birds.

In 1939 Pollard is listed (with his birthday as 28 October 1926) as "at school" and residing at Chesterton, Melville Road, Falmouth, Cornwall.I presume it's his son who wrote this short piece for Blundell's School's website (accessed from the Old Blundellians). Pollard passed away on 15 October 2006 (in Rickmansworth) and was a pupil at the Devon school between 1941-1943

Geoffrey had a life-long interest in falconry and was one of the leading British falconers.  He set records for his bags of Red Grouse which he killed in the 60’s in Caithness with his team of Peregrines.
He was a successful criminal defence lawyer and was a frequent participant at Uxbridge Magistrates Court due to the close proximity to Heathrow and his office in Hayes, Middlesex.  In the 70’s he represented many drug traffickers and at least one hijacker!  When he passed away, Geoffrey was 11 days short of his 80th birthday.

Nick Pollard

There's a lovely tribute that also confirms the data above on the Peregrine Fund website where there's also a plaque dedicated to Pollard. It's easier to visit virtually as the memorial is in Idaho of all places! 

In conclusion... Raymond Sheppard was the perfect choice to draw illustrations for Pollard's works. I can't find any record of any authored books by Pollard but must mention one more article (for the completists) which appeared in Lilliput  July 1954 "The Passage Hawk on pp. 68-70 with an illustration by Oliver Heywood, thus not shown here.

The Passage Hawk, (ar) Lilliput July 1954