Charles Payne

Charles “Snaffles” Johnson Payne was an English painter best known for his humorous work. Snaffles specialized in water colors and drawings sold as prints which, at least initially, were hand colored by the artist and his sisters. His subject matter was invariably military, racing, hunting, and equestrian scenes. Many of his most famous pictures contrast military life with the peacetime pursuits of racing and hunting.

Payne joined the Royal Garrison Artillery at the age of 18 as a gunner but in 1906 was forced to leave because of illness. However, his time in the Army was influential, as his first recorded works of semi-caricature date from this time. Invalided out of World War I, Payne took a job as a war artist for The Graphic and it was during these years that he produced some of his finest military work.

His drawing is simply listed as County Galway in the catalog. One of his well-known drawings is titled The Sort for County Galway, published as a print around 1935. However, since Snaffles depicted scenes from Ireland quite frequently, particularly County Galway, and a number of his works were lost in the War, it is unclear whether his entry was really this drawing.