yes

Constabie P. H. Brown
“Bairnsfather of the Force”

HIS PARENTS named him Piercy Hereward; to
his legion of friends in British Columbia he is just
“Spike”.

That is First Class Constable P. H. Brown, Regt.
No. 463, attached to Victoria District Headquarters,
“A” Division of the B. C. Provincial Police, Victoria.

Possessed of unusual artistic talent, he is the

OCTOBER. 1938

Consiable Brown Jabs His Pen at Brother Officers, Not Forgetting

Himself—Roving Instinct Took Him to Logging Camps—Free-

lance Artist—Has Decided Sense of Humor—Nature and the

Bull—Skid in Salute to Commanding Officer—Drawing Is His
Only Hobby

unofficial cartoonist and illustrator for the Force and the official illustrator for
THE SHOULDER STRAP. The cover illustration is a fine example of his art. He draws
satirical pen and pencil sketches of his brother officers, and at times, when the joke
is on him, he draws them of himself.

Born in Winnipeg, his family moved to Vancouver in 1918, and “Spike”, in
rapidly succeeding years, obtained his education at Duke of Connaught and
Britannia High Schools, Vancouver College, an extra-mural course at the Uni-
versity of British Columbia, the College of Applied Arts, and the Federal School
of Illustrating, Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1925 he joined the art staff of the Capitol Theatre in Vancouver, until the
roving instinct took hold, with the result that he found himself spending six
months in a logging camp near Nootka on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Returning to Vancouver, he free-lanced before joining the designing staff of the
Neon Products of Western Canada, Ltd. He was transferred to the Victoria
office of that company in 1930.

Has SENSE OF HUMOUR

Became restless and decided to join the B. C. Police “to see what it was like.”
Taken so with the new work, he’s still hard at it, being district clerk at Victoria.

Saw enough service in his seven years as a Provincial constable: Doukhobours,
duty at Taghum, Cranbrook, Penticton, Powell River, North Vancouver and
Agassiz.

Got ideas for his cartoons in his travels. Those illustrated here came from some
incident in real life.

Has he a sense of humour?

“Once I had to serve a summons on a farmer in the Agassiz district,” he said.
Floods were raging through that part of the country. Encircled the place until
he could climb a fence, then proceeded through an orchard. Met a bull, and wound
up back on the fence, with a flood of water behind him, and an enraged bull in
front.

What did he do?

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