Henry Lionel Field (1894 – 1916) – British soldier poet and artist

Quite a few of the WW1 poets were also artists.

Henry was born on 2nd May 1894. Educated at Marlborough College, he went on to study art at Birmingham School of Art.  He joined the 6th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant in September 1914 and was sent to the Western Front in February 1916.

Hentry was killed on the first day of the Somme Offensive – 1st July 1916 – and is buried in Serre Road Cemetery No. 2, Beaumont Hamel et Hébuterne, Somme, Nord Pas de Calais, France.

His poetry collection “Poems and Drawings” was published by Cornish, Birningham in 1917.  One of his poems was included in the anthology “The Valiant Muse”, edited by F.W. Ziv and published by Putnam, New York, in 1936.

https://forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.com/2018/12/henry-lionel-field-1894-1916-british.html

Henry Lionel Field featured in the exhibition “Poets, Writers and Artists on The Somme, 1916”, held at The Wilfred Owen Story in Birkenhead, Wirral in 2016.  There is a book of the exhibition panels available via Amazon:  http://www.poshupnorth.com/2016/06/the-somme-1916-available-1st-july-pre.html

A sketch from Lionel's book:

William Robert Gregory, MC (1881 - 1918) – Irish airman, cricketer and artist

With thanks to Poet and Historian Becky Bishop for finding this artist

William Robert Gregory, known as Robert, was born on 21st May 1881 in Athenry, County Galway, Ireland.  He was the only child of Sir William Henry Gregory and Lady Gregory, a poet and writer and associate of Irish poet W. B. Yeats.   Educated at Harrow, Oxford University and the Slade School of Art, London, Robert was an excellent all-round sportsman, good at bowls, boxing, horse riding and cricket. He once played for the Ireland Cricket Team. 

Robert married fellow Slade School of Art student, Margaret Parry and worked in Paris at the design studio of Jacques Émile Blanche. An exhibition of his work was held in Chelsea, London in 1914. He was also a book illustrator.

In 1915, in spite of being married with three children by then, Robert initially joined the 4th Connaught Rangers, but in 1916 transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, where he trained as a fighter pilot and joined 40 Squadron.  As a fighter pilot, Robert was credited with eight victories, which gave him ace status. The French awarded him their Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1917 and he was awarded a Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty."

Robert flew the following planes: Royal Aircraft Factory RE-8, the French Nieuport and, at the time of his death, the Sopwith Camel.   Robert was killed serving on the Italian Front at Monastiero, Padua, Italy on 23rd January 1918, at the age of 36.  He was buried in Padua War Cemetery, Padua, Provincia di Padova, Veneto, Italy – Grave Reference:  Plot A.12.

Robert's death had a lasting effect on William Butler (W. B.) Yeats (1865 – 1939), who wrote four poems about Robert’s death – this is the most famous of those poems:

"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death"

I know that I shall meet my fate,

Somewhere among the clouds above;

Those that I fight I do not hate,

Those that I guard I do not love;

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,

No likely end could bring them loss

Or leave them happier than before.

Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,

Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,

A lonely impulse of delight

Drove to this tumult in the clouds;

I balanced all, brought all to mind,

The years to come seemed waste of breath,

A waste of breath the years behind

In balance with this life, this death.

Pictured Major Robert Gregory, Lady Gregory's son who inspired W.B. Yeats's "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death," pictured beside his drawing of Yeats's Thoor Ballylee tower, c. 1917. (Photo courtesy of the Thoor Ballylee Visitors Centre)

Other Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gregory_(cricketer)

WW1 Artists, Photographers, Sculptors and more who were awarded medals for exceptional bravery

Some of the Artists, Photographers, etc. that I have found during the course of my research, who were awarded medals for bravery.  I am still working on this list, so if you know of others please let me know.  

Harry Epworth Allen, MM (1894 - 1958) – British artist awarded Military Medal for conspicuous bravery in the field

Joseph Marius Jean Avy (1871 - 1939) - French Croix de Guerre – French artist 

Geoffrey de Gruchy Barkas, MC, artist/film maker

Alan Edmund Beeton, MC

John Warwick Brooke DCM – official WW1 war photographer

William Robert Gregory MC (1881 – 1918)  - Irish-born, RFC/RAF British airman, artist and cricketer; France made him a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1917

Carl W Herman, MM (1888 – 1955) – artist

Charles Constantin Joseph Hoffbauer, Croix de Guerre (1875 – 1957) – French-born American artist 

Leslie Fraser Standish Hore, MC (1870 - 1935)  - artist - Captain in Australian Light Horse WW1

Charles Sargeant Jagger MC ARA (1885 – 1934) - British sculptor

Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly MC (1896-1971) - Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery

Henry Taylor Lamb MC (1883 - 1960) - Australian-born artist; Royal Army Medical Corps battalion medical officer with the 5th Battalion, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Palestine & Western Front 

A W Lloyd, MC – Arthur Wynell Lloyd (1883 - 1933) – British cartoonist

Walter Marsden MC (1882–1969) - sculptor

William Charles Penn MC (1877 – 1968) - artist; 5th Battalion The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment

Geneste Penrose MM - British artist 

Gerald Spencer Pryse MC (1882–1956) - British artist and lithographer

Herbert Edward Read DSO, MC, Mentioned in Despatches (1893 – 1968) - served Green Hoards

E.H. Shepard, MC – artist

William George Storm, MC (1882 - 1917) – Canadian artist

Dents Wells, BEM (1881-1973) - artist; served in the Artists Rifles during WWI; awarded a B.E.M. for gallantry. 

Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar (31 October 1888 – 30 November 1958).

Pictured above: The British Empire Medal.  First established in 1917;  could be awarded for either meritorious service or for gallantry. It was awarded to 2,015 people, 800 of whom were from other countries.

The French medal Croix de Guerre 

The Croix de Guerre (Tr. Cross of War) is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during the First World War, again in World War II, and in other conflicts; the croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures ("cross of war for external theatres of operations") was established in 1921. The Croix de Guerre was also bestowed on foreign military forces allied to France.

Evan Frederic Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar, FRHortS, FRSL, FRSA, FZS, FAGS, FIL (13 July 1893 – 27 April 1949) - poet, artist, soldier, and statesman

With thanks to Historian Poet Becky Bishop for finding Evan Morgan, who was a cousin of Raymond Juzio Paul de Rodakowski-Rivers (1895 - 1917)

Born on 13th July 1893, Evan’s parents were Courtenay Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar, of Tredegar Park, Monmouthshire, Wales, and his wife, Lady Katharine Carnegie.  Educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford University, Evan was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in 1915 and served during WW1 as a King’s messenger (Carrying diplomatic papers to Embassies), working for French General Robert Nivelle in North Africa, after which he became ill. While recuperating at Garsington Manor, Evan became friends with another Oxford graduate, the poet Robert Graves, who had been at school with Evan's cousin, Raymond Rodakowski-Rivers and who was recuperating after being wounded while serving in France.

In 1917, following a period of ill health, Evan became private secretary to British government minister William Clive Bridgeman. From 1915 to 1916, Bridgeman was Lord of the Treasury and Assistant Director of the War Trade Department. With the creation of Lloyd George's coalition in 1916, Bridgeman became Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour until 1919 and then Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in 1919 and 1920, after which he served as Secretary for Mines from 1920 to 1922.

On 3rd March 1934, Evan succeeded to the title of 6th Baronet Morgan, 4th Baron Tredegar, and 2nd Viscount Tredegar, after the death of his father.

During the Second World War, Evan served with MI8, his responsibility was to monitor carrier pigeons. He carelessly let slip on occasion departmental secrets to two girl guides and was court martialed but not sent to jail or worse.

Evan received the following awards: He was decorated with the following awards:

Knight of Honour and Devotion, Sovereign and Military Order of Malta

Knight of Justice, Constantinian Order of St. George

Knight of Justice, Order of St. John of Jerusalem (KJStJ)

Commander, Order of the Holy Sepulchre (with star)

Here is one of his poems:

“What of the Dead ?”

IF in the repose of an arbour 

Under a western sky 

One dreams of a vast eternal 

And one questions the reason why ; 

Why joy should dissolve into sorrow, 

Why pearls should melt in the wine, 

And whether the new dawning morrow 

Will reckon the close of our time ? 

If in the repose of the arbour 

One gazes on nature around, 

Is there some definite answer 

In the earth or the sky to be found ? 

Are we the pawns of a Jevah 

That move on a cross-chequered board ? 

Propelled from the back by a lever, 

Controlled, supervised by a Lord ? 

Given a pen as a plaything 

To scribble out poems and plays 

Works that we worship with reverence, 

The blossoms of earlier days 

Given a spirit of reason, 

Given a mind to attend, 

Given a soul filled with treason 

To embitter and poison the end ? 

Is there a peaceful Nirvana ? 

Is there a rest for the soul ? 

A bed for the toil-driven Karma, 

A telos ? a Heaven ? a goal ? 

What of the slain in the battle ? 

What of the dead on the field ? 

Foul slaughtered like horses and cattle, 

Those men that we use as a shield : 

If ever a soul got to Heaven ! 

If ever soul reaped a reward ! 

Those whose red blood has been given 

A gift to their own native sward : 

Those are the ones for a Heaven, 

For a peace and a pleasure unknown, 

By their work are they all self-forgiven, 

Let their blood for His Blood atone. 

From “Soldier Poets: Songs of the Fighting Men” Edited by Galloway Kyle (Erskine Macdonald, London, 1916).  This is now available as a free download from Archive:

https://archive.org/stream/soldierpoetssong00kyleuoft/soldierpoetssong00kyleuoft_djvu.txt

Although he apparently painted a great deal in his younger years and exhibited his work in Paris, I have so far only been able to find a self portrait by Evan.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Morgan,_2nd_Viscount_Tredegar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MI8

https://biography.wales/article/s2-MORG-FRE-1893

https://strangeflowers.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/the-double-life-of-evan-morgan/

https://alchetron.com/Evan-Morgan,-2nd-Viscount-Tredegar

https://tredegarhouse.wordpress.com/tag/robert-graves/?fbclid=IwAR3UXMs5muA4phLdHLi_sj_5-qYpXURMryfJyYBks2Q65Y4bJB2R6J6dRm8