Joyce Dennys

Isobel Dorothy Joyce Dennys (14 August 1893 – 23 February 1991) was an English cartoonist, illustrator and painter. She worked for the Voluntary Aid Detachment during the First World War and designed and created recruitment posters for both it and the Women's Royal Naval Service. Dennys spent 1919 and 1921 working in Australia before returning to England in 1921. She contributed humorous illustrations in the form of sketches and strip cartoons to journals and illustrated a series of books. Dennys also published plays catered primarily for amateurs and provided the cover illustrations to many of them. She took up oil painting at age 70 and she authored her autobiography in 1983. Examples of her oil paintings are held by three museums and a blue plaque has been installed at her Budleigh Salterton home since April 2015 to commemorate her life. A play adapted from Joyce Dennys's books 'Henrietta's War' and 'Henrietta Sees It Through' was created by Lorraine Morley and had its first public preview in Cambridge, England in May 2024. It premieres at the ADC Corpus Playroom in Cambridge in July 2024.