Gilbert Rogers (1881 – 1956) – British artist

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for finding some of the information about Gilbert and to War Art on Twitter for providing the inspiration - https://twitter.com/Artistwar

Gilbert was born in Freshfields, Lancashire (near Liverpool) on 9th November 1881. His parents were William Rogers and his wife, Sarah Jane Rogers, nee Searle. Gilbert had the following siblings: Harry, b. 1879, Wlliam, b.1881, Gladys N., b. 1884 and Guy, b. 1888.

By 1901, Gilbert was studying art at the Liverpool Art College.

During the First World War, Gilbert served on the Western Front in the British Army’s Royal Army Medical Corps with the rank of Temporary Lieutenant, No. 78529.

Among the paintings Gilbert did during WW1 were:  “Ypres 1915”, “RAMC at Messines”, “VAD Ambulance Driver” and “The Dead Stretcher Bearer”.

In 1918, Gilbert was appointed by the Committee for the Medical History of the War to lead a team of artists who were asked to depict the medical consequences of warfare.  He headed a group of artists commissioned to produce works for the medical section of the newly-created Imperial War Museum in London.

One of his works was more than 11 feet high and 15 feet wide, it was one of several large canvases displayed in Imperial War Museum’s first home at the Crystal Palace in Penge Peak, Sydenham Hill, south London.  From 1922 – 1923, Gilbert was President of the Artists’ Club in Liverpool.

Gilbert married Gertrude Jane Iceton in 1924.  The couple lived in Beresford Road, Birkenhead, Wirral during the Second World War. Gilbert died in Birkenhead in 1956.

The portrait of Gilbert Roger as President of the Artists' Club, Liverpool, 1922-23 was painted by Frank Copnall (1870 – 1949).

Sources: Find my Past and
http://www.centenarynews.com/article?id=1501

Guy Lipscombe (1881 – 1952) – British artist

With thanks to Sergio Sbalchiero for telling me about Guy Lipscombe and inspiring

me to research the lesser-known artists of the First World War

Guy was born on 22nd August 1881 in Kingston, Surrey, UK. His parents were Henry Rogers Lipscombe, a water filter maker, and Alice Emma S. Lipscombe, nee Rogers.  Guy had the following siblings: Warren, b. 1879, Lionel, b. 1880, Hugh, b. 1883, Doris, b. 1887, Ethel, b. 1889 and Basil, b. 1891.   The family lived in Marylebone, London, UK.

Guy studied art at The Royal Academy School of Art in London.

In 1903, Guy Lipscombe was commisioned by the London Temple Press to illustrate motor sport for “The Motor” magazine which was founded in January 1903. In 1906, Guy painted the famous British Rail Recruitment Office Posters Britishers enlist to-day with the Union Jack, which was used again in WW1.

In 1907, Guy painted an oil painting that is on display on the staircase of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in London. It depicts a scene from the French Grand Prix held in Dieppe on 2nd July 1907 and shows Felice Nazzaro ( Fiat 130 HP Corsa) and Claude Richez ( Renault AK ).

From 1908, Guy Lipscombe held exhibitions of his work at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Dudley Museum and Art Gallery and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

During the First World War, Guy volunteered as a driver with the Britsh Red Cross and served with No. 3 British Red Cross Ambulance Unit on the Italian Front in Italy, where he painted several pictures:

The Arrival of the First Guns on the Carso Front, Italy 1916
A First- Line of Line Dressing Station, Doberdo, Isonzo Front, Italy (1917) British Red Cross Ambulance, Italian Front, 1916 (1918),
Castelfranco: Italian Troops resting on Route to the Piave Front (1918)
A Group of Casualities in a Room under a Gas Lamp (1919).

After the war, Guy married Effie L. Mozley-Stark in Kensington, London in 1919.   In 1934 he painted the official portrait of Lady Emily Roney, who was the first woman Mayor of Wimbledon from       1933 to 1935 .

By 1939, Guy was divorced and living in Saffron Waldon, Essex.  He painted ‘Invasion Training in Cornwall’ which is now in the Welcome Trust collection.

Guy died in Kent in 1952.

Sources: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Lipscombe  Find my Past and Free BMD.

Walter E. Spradbery, DCM (1889 – 1969) British Artist and poet; served in RAMC during WW1

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for telling me about Walter and thanks to Walter’s cousin, Philip Spradbery, who has a lifelong passion for painting, who kindly supplied additional information.

Walter Ermest Spradbery was born on 29th March 1889 in East Dulwich, London, UK. His parents were Joseph Spradbery and his wife Emily Spradbery, nee Feltham.  Walter had a brother, Charles V., b. 1879.

Walter studied at Walthamstow Art School, then worked as an art teacher. He regularly exhibited his work at the Royal Academy. His main artistic media were water colour, linocuts and poster design. Walter designed posters for London transport companies and for British Rail.

During the First World War, Walter, who was a pacifist, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served as a medical orderly and stretcher-bearer on the Western Front. He served with 36 Field Ambulance during the Somme Offensive in 1916 and was mentioned several times for bravery rescuing wounded men under fire.   He was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal.

On 11th November 1918, Walter wrote to his Mother:

"Hostilities ceased on all fronts at 11 o’clock today. Oh happy mothers, happy sweethearts, happy wives, whose loved ones will come safely back... and those lone souls who have lost their very own; today is too unkind to them - how can they face our joy? 'Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards men' - an unseen choir sings it in our breasts - prompting men to evolve a better world more worthy of our ideals and aspirations. Let us begin."

On 21st August 1929, Walter married opera singer Dorothy D’Orsay (maiden name Horsey) and the couple lived in Epping Forest.   They had two children.

Walter died in Epping, Essex in 1969. An exhibition of the work of WW1 artist Walter Spradbery is on display at The Epping Forest District Museum until 22nd December 2018. 
Epping Forest District Museum
39 – 41 Sun Street, Waltham Abbey, EN9 1EL \ 01992 716882 \ www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/museum

A biography of Walter Spradbery’s life and times, "My Dear Jim", has been compiled and published by his son, John Spradbery (Mail order from Elizabeth Spradbery: el.malet@gmail.com)

Sources:  http://www.xcsconsulting.com.au/walter-e-spradbery.html
https://theatricalia.com/person/k2t/dorothy-d-orsay
https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/people/item/1996-5125

A poem by Walter Spradbery written in 1915 kindly supplied by his cousin, Philip Spradbery.

THE BALLAD OF BARNHAM COMMON

“Eyes Have They, But See Not”

The flowers that grow on Barnham’s plain
Are beautiful to see;
The bugloss and the speedwell’s blue
Fair as a summer’s sea,
Blue as a summer’s sky are they
As a child’s eyes may be:

And the tender little pansy’s
Uplifted cherub face,
With golden eye, and purple wings
And unpretentious grace,
Peeps shyly from amid the grass
In every shady place.

But wearily we drag our feet
Over the jeweled sods,
And discipline, it weighs us down
With the curse of an iron rod;
And ‘iron rods’ we carry
To kill the sons of God.

The cranebill’s starry floweret
Is scattered o’er the plain;
Its pale magenta blossoms
We trample in our pain,
And dully long for peace, and love
And our dear homes again.

With iron heels we tread them down,
We tread them in the sand;
We crush their beauty ’neath our feet
Too tired to understand
The ugly ruthless thing we do.
Now war is on the land.

The golden gorse, across the heath
Is a mass of yellow flame;
Its unconsuming fires praise
The Sun God’s glorious name.
But war it burns things black and dead,
And fills men’s hearts with shame.

And scarlet is the pimpernel
And bright the poppy’s red
But brighter still is the blood we’ll spill
Ere we ourselves are dead:
No flower so rich, in the deep dug ditch,
As the blood our guns may shed.

The grass is worn with the ceaseless tread
Of our marching to and fro,
And where we drill on the mossy hill
Great bare patches show;
For ’neath the heel of the War God’s foot
No fair thing may grow. 

But time revenges the patient weak
Whom the Ruthless crush and kill,
And delicate things that droop and die,
Like the flowers on the grassy hill,
Will bloom again on another plain
Fairer and sweeter still.

The barren stretch of Flander’s plains
Is desolate and bare,
And the shriek of shell, and stench and smell
Float on the morning air
And splintered stumps are all that speak
Of what once blossomed there.

Yet the flowers our feet have trodden down
Will be born again,
And rich and fine, on Flander’s fields,
Will dance in the gentle rain
Will dance on the dead that feed their roots
The countless, ghastly slain.

The little flowers we’ve trodden down
Will scent each ugly grave,
Will hide the ghastly torn limbs
O the coward and the brave
And gaily smile at the morning sun,
O’er the foolish and the knave.

Oh, the river runs o’er Barnham’s plains
This where our horses drink –
And a thousand fair and charming things
Blossom on its brink.
But we have trod them in the mud
Nor paused to praise or think.

The pinkish purple loose-strife
Bows on the river’s edge,
Forget-me-not and orchids,
The flowering rush and sedge
While briar rose and bryony
Entangle in the hedge.

And crowsfoot gleams on the river,
Like snowflakes in the sun
And sways in the moving waters
That over the pebbles run.
But we cannot pause for such a thing,
Who’re crossing the stream with a gun.

But the rivers which flow in Flanders
Are rivers of blood methinks
And will, one day, colour the roses
Whose roots from that soil drink,
And a thousand flowers will blossom
Where a corpse now rots and stinks.

And we who train at Thetford
Parade on Barnham Hill
And prod coarse sack with bayonets
To gain the skill to kill
To disembowel and mutilate
Men who are brothers still.

While all around is beauty
And overhead the sky,
Where fleecy clouds in freedom float
Over the men that die;
And nature laughs at our folly
As we pass her treasures by.

With a garland of peaceful beauty
She tempts us to lay down our arms;
With a myriad of fearless blossoms
She mocks at our childish alarms,
With a tangle of wonderful flowerets
She seeks to ensnare us with charms.

Oh, he who sees God in a daisy,
Can see more clearly in man,
The light of the Glorious Eternal
That through all Living Things ran,
When the wheels of time first started,
And the Song of Life began.

Walter E. Spradbery (1915)

Elliott Seabrooke (1886 – 1950) – British Actor and Artist; Red Cross volunteer and official war artist Italy WW1

With grateful thanks to Sergio Sbalchiero for finding and posting this painting by Seabrooke and for telling me about Seabrooke’s WW1 service with the Red Cross in Italy.

Ransome Elliott Seabrooke was born on 31st May 1886 in Upton Park, London, UK and was baptised on 3rd July 1886.  His parents were Robert Elliott Seabrooke, a warehouse Superintendent, and his wife Harriet Elizabeth, nee Ransom. The Seabrookes also had a daughter, Winifred Elliott Seabrooke, who was born in 1889.   Elliott studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1906-1911. Among his teachers was Henry Tonks.  Elliott then rented a shack in England’s Lake District and adapted it for use as a studio.

During the First World War, Elliott, who was a pacifist, volunteered to join the British Red Cross and served on the Italian Front.  While in Italy, he became an official war artist.

Elliot was tall and handsome and had a fine singing voice.  He became an actor and performed in films and in plays on stage and on the wireless with other contemporary actors and actresses - John Gielgud, Lewis Casson, Sybil Thorndike, Wendy Hiller, Charles Laughton and Ralph Richardson. 

In 1930, Elliott married Adolphine C. Joosten in Hampstead, London.

Elliott travelled extensively and died in Nice, France on 6th March 1950.

Sources: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5016934/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5016934/
http://www.bhandl.co.uk/knowledge/article/elliott-seabrooke-1886-1950.aspx
https://www.llfa.uk/llfa__w_Artist-Elliott-Seabrooke__A_344__.htm
Find my Past and Free BMD

Painting:  Elliott Seabrooke "The Bombardment of Gorizia 21 August 1917".  The view was from the building that housed the First British Red Cross Unit in Gorizia, Italy on the Italian Front in The First World War.

Photograph of Eilliott in the play "The Lion Tamer or English as she is Eaten", an English version by Charles N. Spencer of Alfred Savior's play "Le Dompteur" at the Gate Theatre Studio, London.

Photograph of Elliott and Adolphine seated on the sofa at a reception in London given by Lady Latham (seated on the left) in honour of Elliott's exhibition at Tooth's Galleries in London.  Madame Alanova is on the right of the photograph.   Photo from "The Tatler" magazine, 9th June 1932.

Book Review: “The Half-shilling Curate: A Personal Account of War and Faith 1914 –1918” (Helion & Co. Ltd., Solihull, W. Midlands, UK, 2018)

“…the chap who has got religion is a damned lucky chap” ( p. xvii).

The title of the book refers to the way in which Wesleyan Church Minister The Reverend Captain Herbert B. Cowl, MC signed his letters home to his parents, i.e.:  “From your loving son, ‘The Half-Shilling Curate’, Herbert” (p. 20).

I found this book enthralling.  Although it is a personal account, mainly of Herbert’s experiences in the trenches during the conflict, there is a wealth of background information about the First World War - which I found very interesting.  I don’t want to give too much away because I really want you to read this inspiring book but here are just a few of the things that I found of special interest:

When it came to military service, men in Holy Orders or regular Ministers of any denomination were exempt, which makes Herbert’s story and how he, as a non-combatant, came to be awarded a Military Cross, all the more impressive.

Herbert was educated at Hertford Grammar School at the same time as W.E. Johns (“Biggles” creator). Herbert’s sister, Muriel Trehane, was a WW1 VAD;  Herbert had a great love of poetry and was a friend of the poet Walter de la Mare. When Herbert first met his future wife, he had to ask for permission to write to her, which would seem to indicate that   “…the decay of parental authority in the home” (p. 28) was surely only just beginning.

Dr Philip Gosse, son of the WW1 poet Edmund Gosse, was the reason I included the heading ‘Fascinating Facts of the First World War’ in my commemorative exhibition project, so I was really pleased to find Gosse mentioned on several occasions.  Dr. Gosse was present when Herbert was seriously wounded by a piece of shell, as Herbert and Gosse shared accommodation in a cellar of the Advanced Dressing Station where Philip Gosse was based.   I can see why they became friends because they were both keen naturalists.

I was also interested to read that “Despite the decrease in the active numbers of worshippers, Christianity still under-pinned society” at the time of WW1 (p. 42).

Herbert mentions the power of prayer, in which I am a firm believer, asking his family to pray for him – “That kind of moral bias, and spiritual influence, which comes from other’s prayers, means so much to a man …” ( p. 27) 

During the early days of WW1, General Sir Douglas Haig said:  We must have large minded, sympathetic men as parsons, who realise the Great Cause for which we are fighting, and can imbue their hearers with enthusiasm” (p. 44).

I don’t think I have seen a photograph of the uniform of a chaplain before – they had black buttons, badges and belt - there is a lovely photograph of the Rev. Captain H.B. Cowl taken in Bristol in December 1914 on page 56. 

The description of Soldiers’ Homes at army camps that provided leisure activities on p. 46 I also found interesting.

I did not realise there were ‘rivalries between the churches’ or that soldiers’ dog tags mentioned their religious affiliations, (p. 11).

This book is really beautiful – a delight to read, hard back with glossy paper and illustrated throughout with a great many of the author’s photographs from the family album.  I also very much enjoyed the two sections at the back of the book:  “Herbert’s Roll of Honour”, which has biographies of some of the people mentioned in the book, and “Fond Memories” – testimonials about Herbert from some of the people who knew him and whose lives he touched.  Also included are a bibliography and index.

Herbert’s unshakable belief in God shines forth throughout the book and I was moved to tears several times by his faith, as well as by his bravery.  It is wonderful to think that his message of faith taken to the trenches of the Western Front 100 years ago is being passed on to future generations.  Sarah Reay has done a magnificent job writing this book which is a fitting tribute to her wonderful Grandfather, The Reverend Herbert Cowl, MC.  Credit must also go to Sarah’s late Father, Michael, who had the foresight to keep hold of his Father’s letters, papers, diaries and photographs.  Alas, when my beloved Grandpa died when I was very small, my Uncle threw away all the documents, papers photographs and medals that had belonged to my ‘Old Contemptible’ Grandfather.

Lucy London, June 2018
www.fascinatingfactsofww1.blogspot.co.uk

Lieutenant-General Henry Scrope Shrapnel (1761 – 1842) - British Army officer whose name has entered the English language as the inventor of the Shrapnel shell.

The current accepted definition of shrapnel, which has passed into the English language is :

Plural shrapnel

1 : a projectile that consists of a case provided with a powder charge and a large number of usually lead balls and that is exploded in flight;
2 : bomb, mine, or shell fragments. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shrapnel

Henry Shrapnel was born on 3rd June 1761 at Midway Manor in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, UK. Henry was the ninth child born to Zachariah Shrapnel (1724 – 1796) and his wife Lydia, nee Needham.

In 1779, Henry joined the British Army, serving with the Royal Artillery as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was posted to St. John’s, Newfoundland from 1870 until 1874, where he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.  When he returned to Britain, Henry invented what he termed "spherical case shot" ammunition.  This was a hollow cannonball filled with lead shot that burst in mid-air.  Henry successfully demonstrated his invention in Gibraltar in 1787.   The device was designed as an anti-personnel weapon. In 1803, the British Army adopted a similar but elongated explosive shell, which immediately acquired the inventor's name.  This has resulted in the term ‘shrapnel’ coming to mean fragmentation from artillery shells and fragmentation in general.  Throughout The First World War, British Shrapnel shells were still manufactured according to Henry Shrapnel’s original invention.

Henry Shrapnel served in Flanders, where he was wounded in 1793. He was promoted to the rank of Major on 1st November 1803, after serving for eight years as a Captain. In a battle at Fort New Amsterdam, Suriname, on 30th April 1804, Henry Shrapnel’s invention was proved to be a success.  He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on 20th July 1804.

Henry married Esther Squires (1780 – 1852) on 5th May 1801 in St. Mary’s Church, Lambeth, London, UK.  They had a son – Henry Needham Scrope Shrapnel - who was born in July 1812.

In 1814, the British Government recognized Henry Shrapnel's contribution to the Army by awarding him a pension of  £1,200 a year for life.   This is roughly equivalent to the buying poewer of  £240,000 in 2018.  Henry was appointed to the office of Colonel-Commandant, Royal Artillery, on 6th March 1827 and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General on 10th January 1837.

Henry Shrapnel lived at Peartree House, near Peartree Green, Southampton from about 1835 until his death on 13th March 1842 at the age of 80. Henry’s wife, Esther, died in 1852.

NOTE:  According to the Memorial on the Shrapnel Family Memorial in the vault of Holy Trinity Church at Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, Henry Shrapnel died in 1849 at the age of 80.

Sources:

For a detailed explanation of the Shrapnel Shell see http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/military-history/henry-shrapnel-the-battle-of-waterloo/

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Henry_Shrapnel

http://www.thepeerage.com/p69465.htm


Portrait of Henry Shrapnel by F. Arrowsmith in oil at the Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich


With grateful thanks to Andrew Morgan for his clarification of the definition of Shrapnel and for the images shown here :

“Contrary to the accepted definition in dictionaries and encyclopedia, 'Shrapnel' was a quite distinct type of artillery projectile, in very common use particularly early on in The First World War - .a British invention, by a Royal Artillery officer of the same name. By 1914, it was effectively a shell that was a flying shotgun, discharging hundreds of metal balls in a cone shaped hail. The container or casing then fell to the ground and was completely inert, unlike a High Exposive shell (HE shell) which contains no metal balls but is designed to shatter into pieces, which are then called 'shell splinters' or similar terms.

All sorts of pieces of all shapes and sizes were used to fill the shells. Rather than using hardened lead or steel balls, on occasion, the Belgians used cube shot as a Shrapnel shell filling.”

Osmund Bartle Wordsworth (1887 - 1917) British Writer

Osmund Bartle Wordsworth, who was related to the poet William Wordsworth, was born iin Glaston, Rutland on 17th May 1887.

When war broke out in 1914, Osmund was in Canada about to take up a teaching post.  Joined by one of his sisters, Osmund booked his passage home on the RMS "Lusitania".  He and his sister survived the sinking - Osmund gave his life-belt to another passenger.

Commissioned into the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as a 2nd Lieutenant, Osmund was killed on 2nd April 1917 near Henin-sur-Cojeul.  He is commemorated on Arras Memorial, Panel 10, on Winchester College's Roll of Honour, in the Chapel at Trinity College, Cambridge and in Salisbury Cathedral.

Osmund Bartle Wordsworth was one of the featured writers in the exhibition commemorating poets, writers and artists of 1917.  If you missed the exhibition, there is a book of the exhibition panels available from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arras-Messines-Passchendaele-More-Writers/dp/1909643211/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1531395669&sr=1-1&keywords=messines+1917+lucy+london

From time to time people contact me via my weblogs with information for me to update my posts.  Tim Adair recently sent me this link that explains how the unmarked grave of Osmund Bartle Wordsworth in the Cemetery at Ecoust-Saint-Mien, France has now been identified due to DNA research.  This is indeed wonderful news. Read the report here:

https://apnews.com/article/france-world-war-i-4073492263b9f1b1b327157f474449df       

Thank you so much, Tim.