William Smithson Broadhead (1888-1960) was born in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, in 1888. As a young boy, he moved to Fir Vale, in the suburbs of Sheffield where he first attended the Central School and later the Sheffield School of Art. As a child he also learned to ride which start his life-long love of horses.

​In January 1910 he sailed to Canada where he had secured work as an illustrator. In 1912, he moved to New York where he had secured a position as an artist for Judge magazine. On the outbreak of the First World War, W. Smithson Broadhead moved back to Britain to support the war effort. With his horse-riding skills, he joined up with the 1st King Edward's Horse regiment. He spent three years fighting in France before being invalided home and resigned the regiment in 1920. During his service overseas he sent home many sketches and letters to his family, which have since been exhibited and are part of the archives of the city of Sheffield.

For the next fourteen years Smithson Broadhead worked in London, and his love of horses and connections in the horse world led to commissions to paint many portraits, mostly of jockeys and their horses. He was awarded grants to study at the Royal College of Art in London and during this time he regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy. It was during these early years when working in London that he received the commission from Sketch, Ltd. to create a portrait of Hercule Poirot. Since the Sketch’s weekly target audience was London’s high society and upper classes, and given that he was regularly exhibiting at the Royal Academy, it is easy to see the appeal of having this artist as part of their publication. It is unclear if Bruce Ingram, who was Chairman of Sketch Ltd., the Illustrated London News, and the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, Ltd. knew W. Smithson Broadhead. However, given they both served in Yeomanry regiments and both lived and worked in London’s artistic and literary world, it is a fair assumption that they did.

During these years in London, Smithson Broadhead was also commissioned by various railways to create posters to encourage travel to some of their destinations. Of note for Christie fans, Broadhead was the artist who painted one of the Torquay posters for Great Western Railways (circa 1934, issued 1935). It is likely one of the last pieces of work he did in England before moving to America and it is a wonderful connection few Christie collectors have likely made.