Click here for more cartoons from the archive

The National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth has brought together over 4,500 of his cartoons on their website.

Leslie Illingworth was born in Barry, south Wales in 1902 and began his career at the Western Mail newspaper.

He went on to gain international acclaim for his work as a political satirist. He died in 1979.

South Wales Echo cartoonist, Gren Jones, told the BBC Wales news website that Illingworth's work is admired across the profession.

"He was an absolutely magnificent cartoonist. I know how highly he was thought of in the cartoonist fraternity."

"He was a cartoonist whose work other cartoonists looked to and admired." Cartoonist Gren Jones

"Because cartooning is usually a humorous art form people often don't take it seriously. But much more skill goes into producing cartoons than people realise"

"In Illingworth's case that skill was apparent; there was very little he couldn't do. He was a cartoonist whose work other cartoonists looked to and admired, and there aren't many of those."

Illingworth studied at Cardiff Art School and was later awarded a scholarship to Slade School of Art.

After working for the Western Mail, he joined the Daily Mail and became chief cartoonist for the satirical magazine Punch.

Illingworth's take on Winston Churchill's loss of the 1945 general election

His work spans a wide variety of topics and incorporates the onset of the Second World War, the Cold War and the space race.

The Centre for the Study of Cartoons and Caricature at the University of Kent worked with the National Library of Wales to create the archive in a project which initially began almost 30 years ago.

Head of Visual Images at the library, Paul Joyner, was part of the team responsible for the site.

"Illingworth was one of the most important political cartoonists of the 20th Century and amongst a handful of Welsh cartoonists to have gained international acclaim."

"His cartoons are a rich resource of political and social history. We wanted to put his work on the map, and creating an online archive allows the work to have worldwide coverage."