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)
