Lobey Dosser

By Ian Stewart

I recall, as a small child back in the late-1940s (long before the days of computers and Nintendos), being encouraged by my parents to read . . . almost anything that came to hand.

As a result of this indiscriminate reading, there was a time when I could recite the wording shown on the label of an HP sauce bottle in both English and French. Now there are some people may find this ability somewhat sad but, some forty years later, I impressed my boss by revealing this fact as, until that point, he thought that he was the only person who had accomplished this extraordinary feat ! But I digress.

I was probably no different from many others of my generation in this respect with one possible exception. My Grandfather was a printer and lithographer who kept scrapbooks of a 'comic strip' which appeared in the Glasgow Evening Times newspaper . . . 'Lobey Dosser' by Bud Neill. Each night the Lobey Dosser strip would carefully be cut out and pasted into a scrapbook. So, on those weekends when I stayed at my Grandparents' house, I was handed the Lobey Dosser book to keep me occupied. I've been a fan ever since !

Lobey (and his friends and foes) appeared from 1949 to 1959, originally in the Evening Times, latterly in the Sunday Mail.

Bud Neill was probably Glasgow's best, and best loved, cartoonist. Lobey Dosser and the host of other characters he created were residents of Calton Creek, Arizona. Strangely, they all appeared to speak with distictive Glaswegian accents and, as the character's and place names drew heavily on the Glasgow vernacular, they (and some of the jokes) were often only comprehensible to native Glaswegians.

Some of the characters :

El Fideldo or Elfie (Lobey's trusty two-legged steed)
Rank Bajin (The well spoken villain)
Toffy Teeth (Chief of the Laya Bout tribe)
Fairy Nuff (A pantomime fairy from Yoker)
Rid Skwerr (A former Russian spy)
The GI Bride (And her wean, Wee Ned)
Whisk E Glaur (And his daughter Adoda)
Roona and Noka Boot (Two sisters)
Watts Koakin (A rustler)
Stark Stairn (A hermit)
Fitz O'Coughin / Breedan Mulk / Khan Oodle

Lobey Dosser (Sheriff of Calton Creek)

Many years after Bud died, it was decided that there should be a memorial to his genius. Money was gathered by subscription and the statue shown below was erected in Woodlands Road, Glasgow.

The plaque reads :

'Statue erected by public subscription on May 1st 1992 to the memory of Bud Neill, 1911-1970, cartoonist & poet, creator of Lobey Dosser, Sheriff of Calton Creek, his sturdy steed El Fideldo, resident villain Rank Bajin, and many other characters'.

To read more about Bud (and Lobey), go to : The Lobey Dosser Website