Rufus Segar

Rufus Segar
Born(1932-08-28)28 August 1932
Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Died7 May 2015(2015-05-07) (aged 82)
Pershore, Worcestershire, England
Education
Occupations
  • Illustrator
  • Graphic designer
Notable workAnarchy (1961–1970)
MovementAnarchism
SpouseSheila Bullard

Rufus Segar (28 August 1932 – 7 May 2015) was an English anarchist illustrator and graphic designer. He was born in Ipswich, Suffolk in England. His father's occupation as a pharmacist resulted in the family moving a lot in England and eventually to the North Wales coast. Segar initially attended grammar school and then enrolled on a course in the Liverpool College of Art. Following graduation in 1953, he and Sheila Bullard, his then-girlfriend, later to became his wife, moved to London. In 1961, while working for an advertising agency, he began to design the covers for the anarchist magazine Anarchy over ten years, for which he received critical acclaim. From 1964 to 1982, Segar worked freelance for the Economist Intelligence Unit. When he retired in the 1990s, he moved to Saltwood in Kent and then to Pershore in Worcestershire. He and his wife were life-long anarchists.

Early life

Rufus Segar was born in Ipswich in Suffolk, England, on 28 August 1932, the second son of Eric and Ethel (née Bomber). He described his father as an "an itinerant pharmacist".[1][2] The family moved a lot during his childhood, "as his father moved across the country setting up various ill-starred business ventures".[3] They moved to Walsall in 1936, Bilston in 1938, and Bristol in 1939. In 1946, they moved to Colwyn Bay on the North Wales coast, from where, two years later, they moved fourteen miles east to Prestatyn.[2]

Segar recalled that, at least at the age of 10 or 12 years old, he was convinced that he wanted to become a cartoonist.[2] He initially attended Rhyl Grammar School, where he took an A-level in mathematics, and then attended St. Asaph Grammar School, where he took an A-level in art.[3] While there, his teacher led him to enrol on a four-year course in the Liverpool College of Art,[2] which he did in 1949.[1] The course was split into halves. For the second half, students were asked to choose a discipline of applied art from about eight options. Seegar enrolled for illustration.[2] He recalled in an interview which independent graphic designer Daniel Poyner undertook with him at home in 2009: 'At that time the idea of illustration was a book with maybe one picture on the cover and five or six inside, and that was an illustrated book. I said "bloody nonsense". I was much more interested in techniques like aquatinting, etching, engraving, lithography, block-making, tone and line process work. And so I did all of those things. I gave myself a brief of roving about what other people did. I went off to pottery and went off to theatre design, to textiles, and just roved.'[2]

While Segar was a student in Liverpool, he moved into an anarchist collective in Upper Parliament Street, where he met Sheila Bullard, like him an anarchist, whom he later married.[4]

Work in the private sector

Segar graduated from the Liverpool College of Art in 1953, after which the members of the collective moved to London,[5] where they shared a flat in Hackney. Soon after moving into the flat, he married Bullard and they started a family. The flat became crowded. Consequently Segar and his family moved to a flat in Pimlico.[6]

Segar initially got a job as a box designer for Hunt Partners in Clapton.[3] In 1955, he was imprisoned for three months for refusing to perform National Service on the grounds that, as an anarchist, "he could never obey an order to kill". Rupert Segar, his son, documented that, while in prison, his father "was head librarian, made chess sets for the warders and learned to roll cigarettes one-handed".[3] Segar's second job was as an assistant designer in advertising for Horatio Myer & Co Ltd in Vauxhall.[7] Three years later, he got a job in S.H. Benson in Kingsway, which he described as "a top rank advertising agency". However, he recalled: "You're nowhere, just an assistant in the system. I watched that for three years, just seeing how it worked, then I said, 'It's not for me.'"[7]

In 1961, while Segar was working for S.H. Benson, he also worked freelance, illustrating books. From 1964 to 1982, he freelanced for the Economist Intelligence Unit, as an illustrator and graphic designer.[3][8][a] In 1965, Segar had published his first book, Cockney Alphabet, a parody in which he cited the British comedy duo Clapham and Dwyer.[10] In 1973, while he was working for the Unit, he joined a group of agents and illustrators to campaign for the safe return of their work after the completion of a commission. A committee was formed, in which Segar was a member, which created the Association of Illustrators.[11] Also while working in the Unit, Segar designed the 136-page book Atlas of Europe - A profile of Western Europe, which was published jointly in 1974 by John Bartholomew and Frederick Warne.[12][b] Segar recalled that he designed the book to be updated "statistically every two or three years."[13] But no new edition was published, which he attributed to the cut to "the budget for further education [which] was aimed at six form upwards",[13] which Margaret Thatcher implemented in her capacity as the Secretary of State for Education and Science.[13]

Designing the covers for Anarchy magazine

In 1961, Segar encountered Colin Ward.[c] He began in April by designing the second issue of Anarchy[14][d] which Ward had started, in Segar's words, "as a foil to Freedom".[6][e] Ward recalled in his discussion with David Goodway:

"It was decided that in the first week of every month the monthly journal should appear instead of the weekly, and that it should have, not the quarto (A4) format that I envisaged for a monthly Freedom but an octavo (A5) page."[15]

From Issue Six onwards, Segar became the magazine's resident art director.[6] He designed the covers of the issue in isolation from their contents and without any input from Ward, albeit while working to a tight deadline. Segar explained the process as follows:

"The editor sends me the subject of the issue; sometimes with an explanation, sometimes with a clipping or a possible image, more often than not just a list of contents. From then on what you see outside is my responsibility.'

Segar briefly briefly commented upon the context in which he worked and the quality of the covers:

'The covers are a by-product of the work I do, they are fitted in to a varying work load and the amount of time and thought given to them is raggedly uneven. This does not relate to the quality of the covers. Some quick covers have been resounding, some laboured covers have beeb abysmal. The covers are the record of my response to ANARCHY a month in advance of publication without the benefit of reading the copy.[16]

The involvement of Segar with Anarchy came to a close when, as he recalled: "Colin lost interest in the magazine when he got to volume ten. There was a change in management style and in size, format, and technique too."[17][f] Segar continued:

"The new lot who took over asked, 'Will you keep on doing the covers?' and I said yes. So I did four or five covers for them, but inside, instead of just texts like Colin had run it, anything went. They also changed what was Colin's notion of what an issue of Anarchy should be about. Three, four, five, or six articles on a theme became a general mishmash and it just disintegrated. It was really too many cooks spoilt the broth. In the end I lost patience with it. I said, 'Well, obviously you can do what you like inside, and now you can do what you like on the cover,' and I dropped it. I just wasn't interested anymore."[18]

Tributes

Segar's covers were published in their entirety by Hyphen Press in the 2012 book Autonomy: The Cover Designs of Anarchy 1961–1970, edited by Daniel Poyner. Kossoff (2016) opined:

     "Anarchy's covers arguably amount, over the course of its nine-year existence, to one of the most impressive series of pamphlet graphic design ever created. They are some of the few examples in the modern era of politically and socially committed graphic designs that are of high quality and consistently inventive. (Other examples include the work of William Morris and the Futurists.) ... The covers of Anarchy, as Richard Hollis points out in an essay in the book,[19] used the full spectrum of technology, which contributed to their variety and vitality. "[20]

Anarchist author David Goodway (2012) described the covers as "superb".[21] Graphic designer Richard Hollis (2012) observed: "Anarchy's covers stand out as a significant record of the early years of graphic design in Britain."[22] Anarchist academic Sophie Scott-Brown (2023) described the front covers as "iconic" and opined: "the journal's success owed much to Segar".[23]

Retirement

Segar initially retired with his wife to Saltwood in Kent, where they lived in the 1990s. In 1992, he had published his book Remember Hythe The High Street 1902-1992[24] for The Hythe Civic Society.[25]

Segar and his wife became friends with Mike Umbers, the editor of the newsletter of the nearby Hythe Civic Society, and his wife. Segar worked voluntarily as an illustrator for the Society. Umbers recalled: "... he was an entertaining conversationalist and we enjoyed supper and garden parties, setting the world to rights together."[26] He cited Segar's production of a card, book Remember Hythe The High Street 1902-1992, for the Society,[24] which was published by the MacSegar Press in Kent. He described his contributions of the extremely detailed designs of the covers for its newsletter, several of which are illustrated.[g]

Around 1999,[27] Segar and his wife moved to Pershore in Worcestershire to be near their children and grandchildren.[26] In 2001, he collaborated with anarchist Donald Rooum on an obituary of anarchist psychologist Tony Gibson.[28]

Segar died suddenly on 7 May 2015 at the age of 82, after a fall down the stairs at home.[27] He was survived by his wife; his three sons, Rupert, BJ and Dan; and his two grandchildren. Rupert Segar recalled that his father's greatest love "was reserved for the books he illustrated ... all enriched with his visual wit.[3]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ David Crowley recalled that Segar's work comprised "creating charts, maps and other infographics for business, education and government."[9]
  2. ↑ A selection of pages from the book are illustrated in Poyner 2012, pp. 274–275.
  3. ↑ Admin (2011) claimed that they met at the Malatesta Pub, which was very likely the Malatesta Club, which Ward attended. Anarchist Philip Sansom (Sansom 1986) recounted in detail the creation of the Malatesta Club. His account included a small humorous drawing of him and Jim Tully in it by Segar, on which Segar wrote "1986". See also Heath (2014) for his lengthy, detailed account of the club.
  4. ↑ See the contents of Anarchy #3 (May 1961).
  5. ↑ Goodway 2012, p. 312 observed that Ward urged the case to his fellow editors for a "more reflective" Freedom, to which they eventually responded "by giving him his head with the monthly Anarchy from March 1961".
  6. ↑ Ward recalled in his discussion with David Goodway: "One of the people working in the Freedom Bookshop was eager to take over the editorship from January 1971 and this was agreed." (Ward & Goodway 2014, p. 66).
  7. ↑ Umbers also disclosed his complete surprise upon discovering that Segar was an anarchist, which he never mentioned, particularly because Umbers recalled that he had 'worn the Queen’s uniform for 39 years'.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Dunn & MacPhee 2010, p. 119.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Poyner 2012, p. 263.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Segar 2015.
  4. ↑ Poyner 2012, p. 280, "... even after nearly forty years, Sheila my wife and I are still anarchists".
  5. ↑ Poyner 2012, p. 265.
  6. 1 2 3 Dunn & MacPhee 2010, p. 121.
  7. 1 2 Dunn & MacPhee 2010, p. 120.
  8. ↑ Poyner 2012, p. 15.
  9. ↑ Crowley 2013.
  10. ↑ Segar 1965, p. 59.
  11. ↑ The Association of Illustrators (AOI) - Our history.
  12. ↑ Atlas of Europe 1974, pp. 2, 4.
  13. 1 2 3 Poyner 2012, p. 278.
  14. ↑ Anarchy 2.
  15. ↑ Ward & Goodway 2014, p. 64.
  16. ↑ Segar 1970.
  17. ↑ Dunn & MacPhee 2010, p. 136.
  18. ↑ Dunn & MacPhee 2010, pp. 136–137.
  19. ↑ Hollis 2012.
  20. ↑ Kossoff 2016.
  21. ↑ Goodway 2012, p. 312.
  22. ↑ Hollis 2012, p. 292.
  23. ↑ Scott-Brown 2023, p. 133.
  24. 1 2 Segar 1992.
  25. ↑ Hythe Civic Society
  26. 1 2 Umbers 2023.
  27. 1 2 Johnson 2015.
  28. ↑ Rooum & Segar 2001.

References

  • Dunn, Alec; MacPhee, Josh, eds. (2010). "Designing Anarchy: The Graphic Covers of Rufus Segar". Signal: 01. Oakland: 117–137. ISBN 978-1-60486-091-7. OCLC 732955750.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  • Goodway, David (2012). Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward (New ed.). Oakland: PM Press. ISBN 978-1-60486-669-8. OCLC 767502606.
  • Hollis, Richard (2012). "Anarchism and the 1960s". In Poyner, Daniel (ed.). Autonomy: The Cover Designs of Anarchy 1961–1970. London: Hyphen Press. ISBN 978-0-907259-46-6. OCLC 794815322.
  • Johnson, Lydia (14 May 2015). "Popular Pershore illustrator dies aged 82". Evesham Journal. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
  • Kossoff, Gideon (Winter 2016). "Reviewed Work: Autonomy: The Cover Designs of Anarchy 1961-1970 by Daniel Poyner". Design Issues. 32 (1): 94–96. doi:10.1162/DESI_r_00370. JSTOR 43830460.
  • Poyner, Daniel (2012). Autonomy: The Cover Designs of Anarchy 1961–1970. London: Hyphen Press.
  • Rooum, Donald; Segar, Rufus (30 April 2001). "Tony Gibson: Conscientious objector who became the smooth image of the RAF". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 1 October 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2008.
  • Sansom, Philip (1986). "Freedom Press and the anarchist movement in the '50s and '60s". Freedom. 47 (9): 32–35.
  • Scott-Brown, Sophie (2023). Colin Ward and the art of everyday anarchy. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-56753-8.
  • Segar, Rufus (1965). Cockney alphabet. London: Max Parrish & Co. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  • Segar, Rufus (1970). "Covering ourselves" (PDF). Anarchy (107 January): 30–32. Retrieved 7 June 2026.
  • Segar, Rufus (1992). Remember Hythe The High Street 1902-1992. Kent: MacSegar Press.
  • Segar, Rupert (19 May 2015). "Rufus Segar obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
  • The Bartholomew/Warne Atlas of Europe: A Profile of Western Europe. Edinburgh/London: John Bartholomew & Son; Frederick Warne & Co. 1974. OCLC 1331524937.
  • Umbers, Mike (21 April 2023). "Memories of my time as newsletter editor". Hythe Civic Society. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
  • Ward, Colin; Goodway, David (2014) [2003]. Talking Anarchy. Oakland, California: PM Press. ISBN 978-1-60486-812-8.

Further reading

  • Ferguson, Kathy E. (2023). Letterpress Revolution: The Politics of Anarchist Print Culture. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press Books. ISBN 1-4780-1659-0.
  • Marchesi, Sara. 2018. Communicating Autonomy: The Language of “Anarchy”. Milan: Centro Studi Libertari.
  • Monot, Pierre Héli (2025). Pamphleteering polemic, print, and the infrastructure of political agency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-55035-2.
  • Pomeroy, Ralph S. (1987). ""To push the world": Orwell and the rhetoric of pamphleteering". Rhetoric Society Quarterly. 17 (4): 365–412.
  • Samuel, Raphael (2012). "Utopian sociology". In Poyner, Daniel (ed.). Autonomy the cover designs of Anarchy 1961-1970. London: Hyphen Press. ISBN 978-0-907259-46-6.
  • Ward, Colin (1969). "A hundred issues of Anarchy" (PDF). Freedom. 30 (20). Retrieved 25 September 2025.

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