Henry Buckle (1882 - 1964) – British artist, illustrator and photographer

Henry Charles H. Buckle was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, UK on 19th January 1882.  His parents were John Buckle, a Verger, and his wife, Susan, nee Hill.

Henry trained as a Whitesmith. In 1907, he married Emily Hannah Rollings.

During the First World War, Henry served as 2746 Lance-Corporal Henry Buckle, in the 1/5th (Territorial) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment from March to October 1915 in Belgium and France.  Henry was under enemy fire and the trench he was in collapsed on him, his legs were badly injured and he was discharged from active duty in August 1916.

The 1921 Census shows Henry, his wife and their daughter Alice Florence Buckle, who was born in 1908, living in Harrogate, Yorkshire (West Riding).  By 1939, the family were still living in Harrogate and by then Henry was a photographer with Alice helping him as a photograhic retoucher.

“A Tommy's Sketchbook: Writings and Drawings From the Trenches”. Incorporating the First World War Diary of 2746 Lance-Corporal Henry Buckle, 1/5th (Territorial) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment.     Foreword by Jack Russell, MBE, FRSA, the former international cricketer and respected artist. This book was edited by David Read, the Historian of the Gloucestershire Regimental Museums.

NOTES:

A Verger is an official in a church who acts as a caretaker and attendant.

A Whitesmith is a metalworker who does finishing work on iron and steel such as filing, lathing, burnishing or polishing. The term also refers to a person who works with "white" or light-coloured metals, and is sometimes used as a synonym for tinsmith.

Sources: Find my Past, FreeBMD and

https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/browse/http%3A-_--_-data.open.ac.uk-_-led-_-source-_-Diary%2Bof%2BLance-Corporal%2BHenry%2BBuckle%2C%2B20%2BApril%2B1915-_-1399974736801

http://the1926foundation.org/mbdb/books/6992

Fergus Herbert Elgin Mackain (1886 - 1924) - Canadian artist/illustrator Sculptor & Photographer

 With thanks to Ciaran Conlan for find this artist for us

Fergus Herbert Elgin Mackain was born on 28th March 1886 Saint John New Brunswick Canada, 

Fergus worked his way to England at the start of the war and joined the British Army. He served initially in the Fusiliers 30th (Reserve) Battalion, British Army Army Service Corps, before transferring to the 23rd Battalion (First Sportsman's).  Fergus served on the Western Front and was wounded during the Battle of Delville Wood (15th July – 3rd September 1916). 

After the war, Fergus returned to live with his family in America.  He died on 3rd July 1924 in Asheville, Buncombe, North Carolina (Oteen Veterans Hospital).

A letter to his six year old son

 When Fergus Mackain wrote this illustrated letter to his 6 year old son in New York, he had been in France for about one year. During that time he had been wounded at the Battle of Delville Wood, and had survived the bitterly cold winter of 1916/17, when men literally froze to death in the trenches.

His battalion, the 23rd Royal Fusiliers, experienced intense fighting at Vimy Ridge, and the following month they billeted at La Comte, Enquin-les-Mines, and Camblain-Chatelain. That was when the United States entered the war to fight alongside their allies in France.

The illustrated letter was reproduced in “Scribner’s Magazine” in December 1917.

A book of Fergus’s WW1 sketches - “A Tommy’s Life in the Trenches” has been put together and published by John Place, (whose Grandfather fought on the Somme) and William Mackain-Bremner (Grandson of Fergus's cousin). They have collected and published for the first time all the postcards drawn by Private Fergus Mackain during WW1, together with contextualizing commentary to the Western Front scenes depicted. Also included are reproductions of actual messages sent during the war on the back of Mackain's postcards. The book features more than 200 colour illustrations.

This artist was found by Historian Ciaran Conlan via Hillebrand Rifles Facebook page. 

Sources:  Find my Past

http://www.fergusmackain.com/p/illustrated-letter.html

https://adventuresinhistoryland.com/tag/book-review-a-tommys-life-in-the-trenches-private-fergus-mackain/

https://adventuresinhistoryland.com/tag/book-review-a-tommys-life-in-the-trenches-private-fergus-mackain/

https://canadiangreatwarproject.com/person.php?pid=138541

http://www.fergusmackain.com/p/greetings-set.html

https://www.amberley-books.com/a-tommys-life-in-the-trenches.html

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=206865831674413&set=pb.100070529913600.-2207520000

Alfred Pearse (1855 – 1933), also known as A Patriot, was a British artist, author, campaigner and inventor.

Born in St Pancras, London, UK, on 20th May 1855, Alfred’s parents were Joseph Salter Pearse, an artist, and his wife, Loveday Pearse, nee Colbron. Alfred studied at West London School of Art and gained numerous prizes for drawing.

In 1881, Alfred married Mary Blanche Lockwood. 

As special artist and correspondent to “The Sphere”, Alfred was assigned to the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York's 1901 tour of New Zealand.

He designed posters campaigning for women's suffrage and drew a weekly cartoon for Votes for Women from 1909, and was also regularly published in “The Illustrated London News”, “Boy's Own Paper” and “Punch”.  With Laurence Housman, Alfred set up the Suffrage Atelier.

Alfred produced various artworks, cartoons and propaganda related to British efforts during the First World War. 

From 11 September 1918 to March 1919, he held an honorary Captain's commission in the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, NZEF, as official artist, painting the battle scenes in which the 1st NZRB figured. He was attached to Brigadier General Charles Melvill's headquarters and left London for France on 27 September 1918.

The Battle of Polygon Wood

Alfred was a wood engraver, book illustrator and art critic, working for the “Manchester Guardian”, and for eight years was a member of Joseph Barnby's Royal Choral Society.

Amongst his inventions, Alfred patented improvements to vehicle and cycle wheels, improvements relating to the frames of velocipedes, a method for animating advertising hoardings in 1908–1912, improvements in flying machines, devised a model air-ship for the October 1905 readers of “The Boy's Own Paper”.

His son, Denis Colbron Pearse, (1883–1971) also became an illustrator.

The Suffrage Atelier was an artists' collective campaigning for women's suffrage in Britain. It was founded in February 1909 by Laurence Housman, Clemence Housman and Alfred Pearse. Clemence was a writer, illustrator, and wood engraver, and her brother Laurence was a fantasy writer.  (A.E. Houseman was Clemence and Lawrence's brother.)

Sources:

Alfred Pearse, Captain, NZRB, 1918–19

Photo: Elliott & Fry

The Battle of Polygon Wood - a postcard from Original Drawing by A. Pearse, official NZ War Artist.

The New Zealand Rifle Brigade (Earl of Liverpool's Own), affectionately known as The Dinks, was formed on 1 May 1915 as the third brigade of the New Zealand Division, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. During the First World War the Brigade fought in Egypt, against the Senussi, and then on the Western Front and was disbanded on 4 February 1919.

Sources:  Find my Past, Free BMD, Wikipedia, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Rifle_Brigade_(Earl_of_Liverpool%27s_Own)

Edward Carter Preston (1884 –1965) - British artist, sculptor and medallist.

Edward Carter Preston was born in Liverpool, UK on 7th July 1884.  His parents were Robert John Preston and his wife, Sarah Ellen Preston, nee Dodd. 

Edward became an artist and designed medals, including the bronze WW1 Next of Kin Memorial Plaque and the Distinguished Flying Cross. His innovative ‘Plychrome’ sculptures were made to support the rehabilitation of those who had been disabled in active service.

In 1911, Edward married Marie Smith in Liverpool.  Marie’s brother was the sculptor Herbert Tyson Smith (1883–1972), who served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and designed sculptures in the Liverpool and Merseyside area, in particular war memorials. 

Edward and Marie’s daughter Julia Carter Preston (26 January 1926 – 6 January 2012) – became a potter. 

During the First World Wara, Edward designed this memorial plaque*

A major commission for Edward began in 1931, when the architect Giles Gilbert Scott asked him to produce a series of sculptures for the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. The project was an immense undertaking which occupied the artist for the next thirty years. The work for the cathedral included fifty sculptures, ten memorials and several reliefs. Edward also exhibited works at the Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition 1938.

* In late 1917, with direct input from King George V, it was decided that in addition to the respective campaign service medals awarded to all participants, the official next of kin of a serviceman or woman who gave their life should receive another more specific token of appreciation. This was a big call, because it is impossible to thank the individual concerned, and nothing can make up for the loss of a loved one to their family.

The conclusion was that a bronze Memorial Plaque should be issued and a national competition was held to find the most suitable design. There were more than 800 entries to the competition from within the United Kingdom, from countries in the British Empire and from the theatres of war. The panel of judges, included Directors of the London National Gallery and the Director and Keeper of the Department of Coins and Medals of the Victoria and Albert Museum. They selected the design by Edward Carter Preston. In all, approximately 1.3 million Memorial Plaques were issued to the families of men who died, and 600 issued to the families of the women.

A decision was made that the Memorial Plaque should be accompanied by a commemorative scroll and the organising committee sought advice on the wording from several well-known authors. Dr Montague Rhodes James (author M.R. James - 1862 - 1936), who was Provost of King’s College, Cambridge at the time, provided a draft which, with a few small amendments, was selected to appear on the scroll. The text was beneath the Royal coat of arms and above the name of the honouree - which was handwritten in red at the bottom. 

Sources: Find my Past, Free BMD, Wikipedia and

https://specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/?p=12771

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Plaque_(medallion)

https://www.artinliverpool.com/venues-archives/hope-university-archive/liverpool-hope-university-edward-carter-preston-the-great-war/

https://www.artinliverpool.com/features/reviews/debbie-lang-interviews-susan-breck-about-edwards-carter-prestons-intimate-retrospective-in-the-cornerstone/

John Turner MC, Croix de Guerre (1882 – 1918) – British schoolteacher and artist (known as Jack Turner)

 With thanks to Chris Warren for contacting me and sending me a copy of the book he edited and published with his Uncle Jack’s letters sent home from the Western Front - “Somewhere in France: Letters written from the Front 1914 – 1918 by Jack Turner, MC, Croix de Guerre”.  And for kindly sending me photographs of Jack, his grave and memorial and illustrations done by Jack and giving me permission to share them.

John Turner was born in Coggershall, Essex, UK in 1882. His parents were John Rootsey Turner, a solicitor's clerk, and his wife, Emma Turner, nee Leech, who were married in Colchester in 1880 and lived in  Great Coggeshall, Braintree, Essex.  

John – who was always known as Jack – became a primary school teacher and was an accomplished artist.

In 1914 Jack joined the Saltley College Company of the 8th Royal Warwickshire Regiment as an infantryman.  In December 1915, he was gazetted as a Lieutenant.  The Regiment were in action on the Western Front during the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916, when Jack was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in the field.  On 1st June 1918, Jack was awarded the French Croix de Guerre.

Jack was killed in action by a sniper on 22nd October 1918, by which time he was a Captain.  He was buried in ST. AUBERT BRITISH CEMETERY, France, Grave Reference Plot III. A. 17 and is also remembered by a memorial cross dedicated to him in Coggeshall church graveyard, Essex.

Captin J Turner M.C's grave in
St. Aubert British Cemetery, France

In a letter home written in July 1915 by Chris’s Uncle Jack when he was serving on the Western Front, he wrote about meeting the Catholic Chaplain Father Albert Purdie and reading his poem about Ploegsteert Wood. 

For the poem by Father Purdie, please see

http://forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.com/2023/08/albert-bertrand-purdie-1888-1976.html

A painting by Jack Turner

In another letter Jack says:  “… we dropped in to see Father Purdie at his billet. I like him much: he is one of the best-read men I have come across – also tall, with a clean boyish face and gold-rimmed glasses.  He is not more than 26, quotes Virgil, and is a personal friend of the Meynells* and of the late Robert Hugh Benson*.”   Being an artist, Jack continued: “He talks of writing something for me to illustrate. I have already drawn him a lovely Spahi (frun Tunis) smiling at one of the girls I know here: she was amusing him for me.    He has also given me a jolly little “Garden of the Soul” (Lady Edmond Talbot’s gift to the Catholic soldiers) which is small but has all the offices in.”

* Alice MEYNELL (1847 - 1922), her husband Wilfrid (1852 – 1948) - pen-name John Oldcastle - her daughter Viola (1885 - 1956) and her son Francis (1891 – 1975) were all poets, and Alice's sister was the artist Elizabeth Lady Butler.  Robert Hugh Benson (1871 – 1914) was a British Catholic priest and writer. First an Anglican priest, he was received into the Catholic Church in 1903 and ordained the following year.

Sources:  Find my Past, FreeBMD

“Somewhere in France: Letters written from the Front 1914 – 1918 by Jack Turner, MC, Croix de Guerre”  

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24180768/john-turner

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM%2FLIVES%2F4522268

and photographs sent to me by Chris Warren, who is also an accomplished poet, and has published these two magnificent books about the First World War:

“In Flanders Now: The War Poems of Father Albert Purdie 1915 - 1918” and

“Somewhere in France: Letters written from the Front 1914 – 1918 by Jack Turner, MC, Croix de Guerre”.  These books can be purchased by following the links:

https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/11285382-in-flanders-now

 

https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/9304624-somewhere-in-france

Memorial cross for Captain John
Turner, Coggeshall Graveyard,
Essex

Fortunino Matania (1881 – 1963) – Italian-born artist

Fortunino Matania was born in Naples, Italy on 16th April 1881.  His parents were Eduardo Matania, an artist and his wife, Celia Matania, nee Gennaro.  Fortunino learnt art in his father’s studio and his cousin, Ugo Matania (1888-1979), also became an artist.

Fortunino designed an advertisement for soap when he was nine years old, before beginning to help his father with illustrations for books and magazines.  In the early 1900s Fortunino went to work in Paris for the magazine “Illustration Française” and in 1902 he was invited to London in order to illustrate the Coronation of King Edward VII for “The Graphic” magazine.   The family settled in London, living in Paddington. 

Fortunino illustrated every major event of British Royal Family, up to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. 

From 1908 Fortunino’s work was published in magazines in Britain and America, including “The Illustrated London News”, “London Magazine”, “Nash's” and “Printer's Pie”. 

When war broke out in 1914, Fortunino became a war artist.  His most famous painting is arguably the one he made for the Blue Cross animal charity entitled “Goodbye, Old Man”, showing a British soldier saying farewell to his dying horse. 

Fortunino was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1917.  His talents made him a popular illustrator for designing advertising, posters and catalogues, and he worked for the British railway company London, Midland, Scottish (LMS), designing posters for Southport and Blackpool. He also designed posters for Ovaltine, Burberry's and many other companies. 

Fortunino was recommended to Hollywood film director Cecil B. DeMille and produced a number of paintings of Rome and Egypt from which authentic designs were made for the film “The Ten Commandments”.

Fortunino died in London on 8th February 1963.

Books illustrated by Fortunino Matania

Six Stories from Shakespeare, retold by John Buchan (1934)

Raphael and Stella: A Baker's Delight Immortalised in Paint, by Matania (1944)

Great Stories from History, Ed. Edward Horton and Peter Shellard (1970)

The Eagle Book of Amazing Stories 1974 (1973)

With the British Army on the Western Front: Twelve Signed Artist's Proofs. London: The Sphere & Tatler; [1916]

For a WW1 poem entitled “Goodbye Old Man” by Mackenzie Bell, please see

http://forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.com/2023/05/good-bye-old-man-poem-written-by.html

Victor François Tardieu (1870 – 1937) - French artist; cofounder of what is now known as the Vietnam University of Fine Arts.

Born in France in Orliénas (département du Rhône, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) on 30th April 1870, Victor enrolled at the École nationale des Beaux-arts de Lyon in 1887. After two years there, he transferred to the Académie Julian in Paris, where he studied for a year. In 1890, he enrolled at the École des Beaux-arts de Paris, with the advice and support of Léon Bonnat. He was employed in the workshops of Bonnat and Albert Maignan until 1894. He also collaborated with the stained glass artist, producing a series of glass boxes.

In 1902, Victor married the harpist, Caroline Luigini, daughter of the composer and conductor, Alexandre Luigini. They had one son - Jean Tardieu, who became a writer.

In 1914, Victor volunteered for service in the First World War and worked as a medical orderly in a field hospital near Dunkirk; during which time he continued to sketch and paint. 

In 1915, Victor painted some of the scenes at the Hospital in the Oatfield, organised by British poet and nurse Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland in France in the early days of WW1. 

Victor's paintings of the Hospital in the Oatfield are now owned by the Florence Nightingale Museum in London.

In 1925, Victor and his friend, the painter Nguyễn Nam Sơn, created the École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine (now the Vietnam University of Fine Arts), where he served as Director until 1936.  Victor died in Hanoi, Vietnam on 12th June 1937.

Sources:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Tardieu

https://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/the-hospital-in-the-oatfield/

https://femalewarpoets.blogspot.com/2018/03/a-book-about-ww1-poet-millicent-duchess.html

https://femalewarpoets.blogspot.com/2018/03/a-book-about-ww1-poet-millicent-duchess.html

Maurice Wagemans (1877-1927) – Belgian artist

With thanks to Historian, Poet, Writer, Translator AC Benus for

finding this artist for us

Maurice Wagemans was born in Brussels, Belgium on 18th May 1877. He studied art at the Academy of Brussels from 1890 to 1895, with Jan Portaels and Joseph Stallaert as professors, before completing his education in Paris, at the same time as Alfred Bastien and Frans Smeers. 

Maurice painted historical scenes, domestic scenes, portraits, nudes, beach scenes, landscapes and seascapes. 

During the First World War, Maurice volunteered and became a member of the Section Artistique at the Front (see below).

His villa “Sunshine” became a point of attraction for other painters, from France, the United States of America and Japan. In later years, when their works were labeled “academic impressionism”, some of these artists began to practice a new direction that would come to be known as Flemish Expressionism.

WW1 postcard by Maurice Wagemans
entitled "Heros"

Maurice was a member of several artists' associations: Artists Association, Cercle Artistique et Littéraire (Brussels), Pour l'Art, Le Sillon and Kunst van Heden. 

Maurice died in Bredene on the Belgian coast in West Flanders on 31st July 1927 and was buried in  the Cemetery Paster Pype on the Nieuwpoortsesteenweg in Ostend, Belgium.

You can see other examples of Maurice's WW1 paintings on this website, from which the biographical information is taken:  https://muizenest.nl/2017/04/19/maurice-wagemans/

Note:  Section Artistique de l’Armée belge en Campagne (Artistic Section of the Belgian Army in the Field)

It was not until 1916, a relatively calm year on the Yser front, that the Section Artistique de l’Armée belge en Campagne (Artistic Section of the Belgian Army in the Field) was created. The origin of this unit is somewhat vague since no official decision is included in the general staff's Daily Orders, but its paternity is generally attributed to Alfred Bastien, with the support of the Royal couple through the intermediary of Jules Ingenbleek, the King's secretary. 

Posted to Nieuwpoort, the Brussels painter was joined, between July 1916 and August 1918, by 25 other artists with differing styles and sensitivities; the youngest were Joseph Vandegem (20 years) and André Lynen (28 years), while the oldest were in their 40s. This was not a simple company of brotherly artists, as had been the wish of Alfred Bastien, but rather an administrative division of the General Headquarters (located in La Panne), directed by an officer and subject to strict regulations. Set down on 23 June 1916, these regulations stipulate that the Section members are free to exercise their art (Article I) but that "no painting, outline, drawing or sketch can be published or sold during the war without the approval of the General Headquarters censor" (Article V), while the government also retains "a right of priority for the possible purchase of their works" (Article IV) ; moreover, though there is "no provision for promotion in rank or salary increase" and while they "must provide for themselves" (Article II), the artists are dispensed from any guard duties and other tedious obligations related to their function as a soldier.

Source:

https://www.rtbf.be/ww1/topics/detail_pencil-charcoal-and-brushes-at-the-front-the-artistic-section-of-the-belgian-army-in-the-field?id=8355944

Lucy Kemp Welch (1869 – 1958) – British artist specialising in the painting of horses

Lucy Elizabeth Kemp Welch was born in Bournemouth, UK on 20th June 1869. Her parents were Edwin B. Kemp Welch, a solicitor, and his wife, Elizabeth Kemp Welch, nee Oakes. Lucy’s younger sister, Edith (1871 – 1941), also studied art and became an artist, as did their cousin, Margaret Kemp-Welch (1874-1968).

Educated at a local art school, Lucy and Edith went to Bushey, Hertfordshire in 1891 to enrol in Hubert von Herkomer’s art school. As one of Herkomer's best students, Lucy set up her own studio in a former inn known as 'Kingsley'. Lucy took over the running of the Herkomer School in 1905 and ran it until 1926, first as the Bushey School of Painting and then, after moving it into her own home, as the Kemp-Welch School of Animal Painting.

In December 1914, Lucy was commissioned by the British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee to paint the artwork for an army recruitment poster – “Forward! Forward to Victory Enlist Now”. In 1916, she sought and was given permission to visit the Royal Field Artillery camp at Bulford on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, UK. The officer in command of the camp allowed Lucy to set up an easel while eight batteries of horse artillery were continually ridden towards her so she could sketch the horse teams in movement at close quarters.

As well as Bulford Camp, Lucy also visited several other Royal Artillery camps. The resulting pictures included “Big Guns to the Front”, an image of shire horses pulling guns through a snowy landscape, which was shown to great acclaim at the Royal Academy in 1918 and was purchased for the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff in 1921.

Lucy also painted scenes at First World War Remount Depots. Although perhaps Lucy is best known for the paintings of horses in military service she produced during World War One, she also illustrated the 1915 edition of Anna Sewell's Black Beauty.

The Army Remount Department was the body responsible for the purchase and training of horses and mules for military use between 1887 and 1942. Prior to the First World War the British army possessed around 25,000 horses; by the middle of 1917 this had increased to around 600,000, plus camels and oxen.

Lucy Kemp Welch died in Bushey, Hertfordshire on 27th November 1958.

Lucy Kemp Welch by Irish-born artist
Harry Furniss (1854 - 1925)

Sources:  Find my Past, Free BMD, Wikipedia

Edith Mary Kemp-Welch (1870–1941) was a British artist - portrait painter.

Edith Kemp-Welch was born in 1970 in Christchurh, Hampshire, UK.  Her parents were Edwin B. Kemp Welch, a solicitor, and his wife, Elizabeth Welch, nee Oakes.  Edith grew up in Bournemouth and attended the Bournemouth School of Art. 

In 1892, Edith enrolled at the art school founded by Hubert von Herkomer at Bushey in Hertfordshire. Edith continued living in Bushey and her elder sister, the artist Lucy Kemp-Welch, took over the running of the Herkomer school.  Between 1898 and 1940, Edith Kemp-Welch exhibited a total of 29 paintings at the Royal Academy in London – these were mostly portraits but also included at last one landscape.  The girls’ cousin Margaret Kemp-Welch (1874–1968) was also an artist.

 During the First World War, both Edith and her sister Lucy produced recruiting posters for the British war effort. The poster created by Edith Kemp-Welch featured an image of Britannia with the slogan "Remember Scarborough ! Enlist Now", a reference to the war-time attack on Scarborough.  

The Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 16 December 1914 was an attack by the Imperial German Navy on the British ports of Scarborough, Hartlepool, West Hartlepool and Whitby. The bombardments caused hundreds of civilian casualties and resulted in public outrage in Britain against the German Navy for the raid and the Royal Navy for failing to prevent it.

Harry Epworth Allen, MM (1894 - 1958) – British artist

Harry Epworth Allen was born in Broomhall, Sheffield, UK on 27th November 1894.  His parents were Henry Allen, a steel mark maker, and his wife Elizabeth Epwroth Allen, nee Blacktin.

Educated at King Edward VII School in Sheffield, when  he left school, Harry started work as a clerk in the steel works where his fther worked.  

Harry began to study art at Sheffield Technical School of Art in 1912.  

During the First World War, Harry enlisted on 29th October 1915 as a Gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery and in June 1916 his Regiment was posted to the Western Front.   Harry was awarded a Military Medal in 1917 for conspicuous gallantry.  He was seriously wounded.

Sources:  Liss Llewellyn Fine Art, Find my Past,

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