Francis Carruthers Gould was born in Barnstable in 1844. In 1888 he became the first political cartoonist employed by a daily newspaper, when he was recruited by the Pall Mall Budget.

Gould was employed as the cartoonist on the Westminster Gazette where he pioneered what became known as "picture politics". Gould also worked for the Picture Politics magazine.

Francis Carruthers Gould died in 1925.