We previously found little information on printmaker Charles O'Connor. Born in England on October 8, 1897, he lived in California from about 1940 to 1959 before returning to England. Much of his work from this period includes imagery of the San Francisco Bay Area, which led us to believe he was an American artist, but a brief biography sent to us from the artist's great-nephew helped illuminate O'Connor's life:

"Charles was born in the UK and joined the Grenadier Guards in 1912, when he was 14 years old. He was injured in the first battle of Ypres in 1914 and was discharged as medically unfit in 1916. He was taught how to sing by some world famous baritones in the 1920's and learned then to play the harp. He travelled with a company called the Westminster Glee Singers, through the 20's and 30's on and off. He visited US, Canada, Honolulu, India, Australia and New Zealand. At one point he remained in Honolulu as the islands were much to his liking. He then applied for citizenship and settled for a short time in a place called Cathedral Oaks, Alma, Santa Clara where his friend was a sponsor. He travelled back and forth between the UK and US, and on a voyage in 1956 between London and San Francisco he met his future wife [Ethel "Christy" Maude Smith] as above. It seems it was at this time that he started his artistic work, making the printing blocks and printing the pictures. They were living in California until sometime in 1959 when they returned to the UK and continued their artistic business with the help of a local printer [Roy Stephenson) here in a town called Newark, Nottinghamshire. Charles passed away on 25 April 1974 whilst his wife passed away on 23 February 1991."

An exhibition of O'Connor's blockprints was held in 2023 at the Newark Town Hall.