Shelbourne, Terry – A master of his art

Terry Shelbourne (1930 – 2021)

BORN in Agnes Terrace, Terence John Shelbourne has always had a flair for art.

It wasn’t inherited. His father, Frederick, was an engineer at Ruston & Hornsby while his grandfather was a taxidermist (his work included two polar bears that used to be in the town museum.

He first went to St Anne’s School, Dudley Road, then the Boys Central where among his teachers during the war was KGGS sixth-former Margaret Roberts.

It was there his headteacher Sammy Thorpe encouraged him and helped the 14-year-old get a place at Nottingham College of Arts and Crafts. 

His first job was as an apprentice cartoonist under John Coxworth who drew caricatures for BMARCo works magazine Mag-o-Marc and, and when BMARCo boss Denis Kendall bought local paper the Grantham Guardian, he joined there.

After two years National Service in the RAF – mainly spent in Scotland  as a batman – Terry found work in the publicity department of Aveling-Barford, under Wilf Spalding.

He then returned to John Coxworth, who had set up in business painting pub signs, mostly humorous ones. This developed into sign-writing and most Grantham shops of the day had Terry’s stamp on them.

But it didn’t stop there. In his spare time he kept up his caricatures, as well as painting portraits, local scenes, and his two favourite topics – steam locomotives and the American Wild West.

He retired from sign-writing in 1988 and immediately started creating cartoons at £10 each for the Grantham Journal. He retained a copy of everyone, amounting to some 1,500 local characters.

He once  said: “Art has been my life and nothing else. I love Grantham and I love art. I’m a very lucky chap.”