The Butterfly. London: 25 Bouverie Street [Amalgamated Press]. No. 223. 19 December 1908.
Chased off one job by the “suffererjets”, Bill dresses as a maid to find another position, is fired for attracting a crowd of male admirers, jettisons his disguise, and returns as a man to apply for a new situation. The artist was G. M. Payne, who drew the strip starting on 20 July 1907 up to Bill’s retirement in 1926. In his earliest incarnation, Portland Bill was an ex–con on the make, his name referring to a prison on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The Portland reference was soon dropped, his name later appearing simply as Butterfly Bill. See also F13 for a later version of this character.
