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
