neverforget Posted 15 November , 2015 Share Posted 15 November , 2015 An absolutely fascinating and illuminating find, NF, thanks. Pete. My pleasure, Pete. You know how it is; one just tends to stumble upon these things. I`ve got W.I.T. to thank for that. There`s no way I would have learned about such a fantastic plethora of subjects without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 16 November , 2015 Share Posted 16 November , 2015 An innovator in war production and public health - and he saw the link between the two. A man of push and go. Who is he ? ? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 16 November , 2015 Share Posted 16 November , 2015 Dr Christopher Addison, later Viscount Addison. Trained as a doctor, he entered Parliament in 1910 and served in various Ministries including the Ministry of Munitions and the Ministry of Reconstruction. A bit too easy, as his name is at the top of the photo! Ron Edit: I see you cropped it off. Too late, I'm afraid! But another of the unsung heroes who kept the wheels of government going at that critical time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 16 November , 2015 Share Posted 16 November , 2015 Blimey Ron you were quick - I saw my mistake and cropped within seconds. But of course you are right. It interests me that Addison and Churchill were the two foremost enthusiasts for Ll.G's proposed "fusion" between the Coalition Liberals and the Conservative Party: Addison later embraced socialism and became a Labour Cabinet member, whereas WSC travelled in another direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 November , 2015 Share Posted 16 November , 2015 WW1 Major, awarded the M.C. Very hush-hush in WW2. Later knighted. A well known number 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 16 November , 2015 Share Posted 16 November , 2015 Sir Stewart Menzies? khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 16 November , 2015 Share Posted 16 November , 2015 On second thoughts I would say Desmond Morton khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 November , 2015 Share Posted 16 November , 2015 On second thoughts I would say Desmond Morton khaki Second thoughts are good, Khaki. Aide de camp to Haig, and Churchill`s personal assistant, amongst others. Shot in the heart at Arras. Very little written about him that I can find. That was a good spot. Well done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Morton_(civil_servant) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 16 November , 2015 Share Posted 16 November , 2015 How about this fellow: Achieved the rank of Lt. Colonel and was awarded the DSO. Left something behind him that bears his name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 16 November , 2015 Share Posted 16 November , 2015 Literally "behind him"! Major, later Lt-Col, Peter Norman Nissen, inventor of the eponymous hut. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 17 November , 2015 Share Posted 17 November , 2015 Nice one Ron. The clue didn't get past you're eagle eye. Well spotted. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norman_Nissen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 17 November , 2015 Share Posted 17 November , 2015 Who, in 1916, wrote this: "I can imagine that, in a hundred or two hundred or two thousand years, when wars are waged in the air or under the ground, these French roads will be haunted by a silent traffic of sliding lorries and jolting wagons and tilting limbers - all going silently about their business. Some staring peasant or stranger will see them silhouetted against the pale edge of a night sky - six mules and a double limber, with the drivers jigging in the saddle - a line of cumbrous lorries nosing along some bleak main-road - a battalion transport with the sergeant riding in front, and brake-men hanging on behind the limbers, taking rations to the trenches that were filled in hundreds of years ago ... " ? ? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 17 November , 2015 Share Posted 17 November , 2015 In a previous incarnation of this thread, Mr Drill asked: A few months back there was a discussion in another topic about this painting: http://www.bbc.co.uk...ay-station-8079 A question came from somebody who worked where the painting is now kept, asking if the identity of the central figure with the blue cap band could be established. Is it worth throwing this in to this thread, given the practice we've had A very long shot: The central figure in the painting may well be based on Lt Col Lancelot Robson RGA. For those with Ancestry his MIC is here. The reason I suspect it might be him is that the artist painted his portrait at a later date. Artists often used the same models or subjects to populate busy paintings as they usually have sketches from before and it saves time. I don't think that the Lt Col Robson was necessarily operating in the role at Victoria Station but may have been known to the artists at the time and used as the model. He was in fact RGA at Hartlepool and had some incoming from the German Navy. On the back of this he applied (unsuccessfully I think ) to get the 1914-15 Star for his men. His portrait is here click. painted in 1918. The Victoria Station painting was completed in 1916 when the artist (Richard Jack) was a war artists working for the Canadians. I doubt that he would have had the time or opportunity to do careful studies at Victoria Station and I suspect the main characters are based on people he knew. The only flaw in the argument is one of chronology, however if Lt Col Robson was known to the artist, it might explain it. Lt Col Robson was based in the UK and did not serve overseas. He was commanding a battery of the Durham RGA at Hartlepool when it was attacked in Dec 1914. Robson was warded the DSO for this action and would have been in the public eye in the aftermath as the action was then considered a German atrocity ..or 'frightfulness'. Wiki The action saw some of the first awards of the MM. The crews were allegedly eligible for the BWM. Edit. The portrait shows Robson with the DSO ribbon. The website says the painting was done in 1918 however it also says it was donated in 1918 to Hartlepool Art Gallery/Museum. I wonder if the painting was actually painted in the aftermath of the Hartlepool raid by way of acknowledgement of his role i.e in 1915 and not 1918. My speculation. Edit 2: The painting is titled Return to the Front: Victoria Railway Station. I wonder if the UK based Robson was used as a model as a nod towards the home based soldiers who were (in the case of the Hartlepool garrison) in the thick of it despite not ebing on the 'Front'. Again, my speculation. A long shot MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 Who, in 1916, wrote this: "I can imagine that, in a hundred or two hundred or two thousand years, when wars are waged in the air or under the ground, these French roads will be haunted by a silent traffic of sliding lorries and jolting wagons and tilting limbers - all going silently about their business. Some staring peasant or stranger will see them silhouetted against the pale edge of a night sky - six mules and a double limber, with the drivers jigging in the saddle - a line of cumbrous lorries nosing along some bleak main-road - a battalion transport with the sergeant riding in front, and brake-men hanging on behind the limbers, taking rations to the trenches that were filled in hundreds of years ago ... " ? ? ? Was it Robert Graves? In a previous incarnation of this thread, Mr Drill asked: A few months back there was a discussion in another topic about this painting: http://www.bbc.co.uk...ay-station-8079 A question came from somebody who worked where the painting is now kept, asking if the identity of the central figure with the blue cap band could be established. Is it worth throwing this in to this thread, given the practice we've had A very long shot: The central figure in the painting may well be based on Lt Col Lancelot Robson RGA. For those with Ancestry his MIC is here. The reason I suspect it might be him is that the artist painted his portrait at a later date. Artists often used the same models or subjects to populate busy paintings as they usually have sketches from before and it saves time. I don't think that the Lt Col Robson was necessarily operating in the role at Victoria Station but may have been known to the artists at the time and used as the model. He was in fact RGA at Hartlepool and had some incoming from the German Navy. On the back of this he applied (unsuccessfully I think ) to get the 1914-15 Star for his men. His portrait is here click. painted in 1918. The Victoria Station painting was completed in 1916 when the artist (Richard Jack) was a war artists working for the Canadians. I doubt that he would have had the time or opportunity to do careful studies at Victoria Station and I suspect the main characters are based on people he knew. The only flaw in the argument is one of chronology, however if Lt Col Robson was known to the artist, it might explain it. Lt Col Robson was based in the UK and did not serve overseas. He was commanding a battery of the Durham RGA at Hartlepool when it was attacked in Dec 1914. Robson was warded the DSO for this action and would have been in the public eye in the aftermath as the action was then considered a German atrocity ..or 'frightfulness'. Wiki The action saw some of the first awards of the MM. The crews were allegedly eligible for the BWM. Edit. The portrait shows Robson with the DSO ribbon. The website says the painting was done in 1918 however it also says it was donated in 1918 to Hartlepool Art Gallery/Museum. I wonder if the painting was actually painted in the aftermath of the Hartlepool raid by way of acknowledgement of his role i.e in 1915 and not 1918. My speculation. Edit 2: The painting is titled Return to the Front: Victoria Railway Station. I wonder if the UK based Robson was used as a model as a nod towards the home based soldiers who were (in the case of the Hartlepool garrison) in the thick of it despite not ebing on the 'Front'. Again, my speculation. A long shot MG Hard to say, but for what it`s worth, the fellow in the painting doesn`t look anything like Robson`s portrait to my eye. The fellow in the painting seems a lot slimmer, with a bit of a "Bruce Forsyth" chin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 Was it Robert Graves? Not Graves, no. "... And there will be ghostly working-parties coming home to billets long after midnight, filing along deserted tracks among the cornlands, men with round basin-helmets, and rifles slung on their shoulders, puffing at ambrosial Woodbines - and sometimes the horizon will wink with the flash of a gun, and insubstantial shells will hurry across the upper air and melt innocuous in nothingness." My chap describes Graves thus: " ... a young poet, captain in the Third Battalion, and very much disliked. An interesting creature, overstrung and self-conscious, a defier of convention." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 Who, in 1916, wrote this: "I can imagine that, in a hundred or two hundred or two thousand years, when wars are waged in the air or under the ground, these French roads will be haunted by a silent traffic of sliding lorries and jolting wagons and tilting limbers - all going silently about their business. Some staring peasant or stranger will see them silhouetted against the pale edge of a night sky - six mules and a double limber, with the drivers jigging in the saddle - a line of cumbrous lorries nosing along some bleak main-road - a battalion transport with the sergeant riding in front, and brake-men hanging on behind the limbers, taking rations to the trenches that were filled in hundreds of years ago ... " ? ? ? Captain J C Dunn, author of TWTIK? Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 Captain J C Dunn, author of TWTIK? Ron Not him, no. But my chap served with Dunn, and Graves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 Not him, no. But my chap served with Dunn, and Graves. Frank Richards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 Frank Richards? Sorry, no. Which only leaves ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 Sorry, no. Which only leaves ... Seigfried Sassoon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 Seigfried Sassoon? Yes indeed. I confess my posts were only an excuse to share that beautiful piece of writing: it's from his 'Diaries 1915-1918', quoted in 'The Secret Annexe - An Anthology of War Diarists' (2004), edited by Irene and Alan Taylor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 This is a Welsh Rugby Player of some note, whose last words were: "Have they got the Hun?" The reply was "Yes.", to which he replied "Well, at least I have done my bit." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 Yes indeed. I confess my posts were only an excuse to share that beautiful piece of writing: it's from his 'Diaries 1915-1918', quoted in 'The Secret Annexe - An Anthology of War Diarists' (2004), edited by Irene and Alan Taylor.Before we had established the RWF connection, I thought of the quote from Arthur Conan Doyle which is at the foot of the last post, and wondered if it might be him! There seems to be something similar in their styles of writing, and of course it is likely that Sassoon would have read the Holmes stories.Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 This is a Welsh Rugby Player of some note, whose last words were: "Have they got the Hun?" The reply was "Yes.", to which he replied "Well, at least I have done my bit." That`s Charlie Pritchard, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 18 November , 2015 Share Posted 18 November , 2015 That`s Charlie Pritchard, I think. Yes, well done .... over to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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