Sitting on the Waterlow Park bench, from left: Gillian Heath Robinson, the cartoonist’s grandaughter, Dr Peter Higginson, his great-nephew, and Ellie Garraway, Heath Robinson’s great-grandniece

WHAT was going through his mind when he strolled through Waterlow Park is anybody’s guess, for Edwardian artist William Heath Robinson was anything but predictable.

The cartoonist, however, was known to love the beauty spot in Highgate, and on Thursday afternoon his relatives helped unveil a commemorative bench in his honour.

Ellie Garraway, Heath Robinson’s great-grandniece, said: “It’s wonderful but strange being a family member. What is really amazing is that his name is still in the language today. Apparently, on average he’s mentioned once a week on the radio and other things.”

Robinson – often known as W. Heath Robinson – was famous for drawing implausible and zany contraptions, leading to “Heath Robinson” becoming a shorthand term, included in some dictionaries to mean absurd or a overcomplicated ways of fixing problems.

Dr Peter Higginson, a great-nephew and a member of the William Heath Robinson Trust, said the artist had visited Waterlow Park on a daily basis during some periods of his life.

“He saw the park as a melting pot of humanity, which is so, so crucial to his own work,” said Dr Higginson.

“This park was quintessentially what he was all about. He was socially generous and loved the range of human life.”

Heath Robinson’s artistic range was often overlooked and his work included a watercolour of the park.

Dr Higginson said: “It’s not just a bench. It’s really a marker of what we can say is one of the most important places in his life and career.”

Heath Robinson, who died aged 72 in 1944, had also lived in Barnsbury.

The Trust, which financed the bench, said it had been a “long time coming”, although a dedicated museum also pays tribute to him after opening in Pinner last year.

Trustee Geoffrey Beare said: “It’s been a real explosion of interest now, but it took a really long time to get there.”