Two boys playing ‘pirates’ in their underclothes with hat, flag, ‘loot’ chest, etc., including the brand-name of ‘Chilprufe’. This is one of two such commercial artwork drawings done for advertising 'Chilprufe' children's clothing (see also ZBA4429) which were acquired on the basis of their subjects from a group of about 30 dispersed for between £15 and £30 each in Dick Moy's Greenwich 'Junk Shop' in 2006. They appear to have come in the 1970s from the estate of the artist who was born in Liversedge, Yorks, in 1891 and died in Molesey (SW London) on 1 March 1977 at the age of 86. Little is otherwise known about Hocknell but she seems to have been an early and underrated example of a female commercial artist (cf. Jill Seddon ‘Mentioned but not deemed significant: women designers and the "professionalisation" of design in Britain, c. 1920–1951’ in 'Gender History', vol.12, no. 2, July 2000). All this group appear to have been advertising drawings done in the 1920s for the well-known Leicester clothing firm 'Chilprufe' - itself a remarkable enterprise founded by a Christian entrepreneur who was a pioneer of profit-sharing with his employees. Five others were bought by the V&A Museum of Childhood, who have a 1922 'Chilprufe' catalogue in which some of those they obtained figure. The earliest work otherwise identified so far by Hocknell is on adverts in 'The Graphic' for October 1918. The Science and Society Picture Library also has two LNER full-colour railway posters by her, also featuring children, dated 1925 (ref: 10172696) and c. 1930 (10174136) and she also seems to have illustrated children’s books. The fifth edition of the 'Wonder Book of Children' (probably 1927: one of a long-lived series published by Ward Lock) has a cover painting of four children of various nationalities by her. Both drawings have various other working marks, including applied patches to aid accurate photography focusing. [PvdM, 2006]