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)