BEDFORDSHIRE BATTLE PICTURE.
Branches and Corresponding Members.
60
The Ypres Times.
At- the request of the Regimental Association of the Bedfordshire Regiment we reprint
the following extract from the Army, Navy and, Air Force Gazette of September ist, 1923,
about the Bedfordshire Battle Picture. From the miniature reproduction sent us, the
picture appears to be both stirring and beautiful, and we cordially recommend all of our
members who served in that distinguished regiment to get a copy.
The battle picture of the Bedfordshire and
Hertfordshire Regiment—the work of Mr. Joseph
Gray, of Dundeeis now permanently hung in
the Shire Hall at Bedford and is interesting from
many points of view. The picture represents the
meeting of the ist and 2nd Battalions of the
Bedfordshire Regiment at Locre on November 6th,
1914, a striking episode at the most critical
juncture of the Great War. The picture includes
portraits of some of the officers and men who were
present at this meeting on the road at Locre and
survived the Great War. The painting is further
characterised by accuracy of detail and by the
skilful treatment of the monotony of khaki
clothing and equipment. For these reasons it is
of great historical value, and there is much cause
for satisfaction in the fact that the promoters of
the War Memorial to the Bedfordshire Regiment,
of which this picture is part, had it reproduced
in colour by collotype instead of by the usual
method of photogravure.
Before the War it was generally believed that
only the Germans could make satisfactory repro
ductions of paintings by collotype in colour but,
strangely enough, it was during the progress of the
War that this art was captured from the Germans
and we are now able to do work as good as, or
even better than that of the Germans in this
country. The reproduction of the Bedfordshire
battle picture was carried out by Messrs. Arthur
Ackermann Son, of 157A, New Bond Street,
whose gallery is well worth a visit.
There is a great deal to be said for the adoption
of a so-called battle picture as a war memorial, as
the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
have done. One of the advantages is that repro
ductions of the picture can be widely disseminated.
They are, of course, hung in the officers' mess, the
sergeants' mess and the institutes of every
battalion of the regiment, and everybody who can
afford it has a copy of his own. It is even possible
to continue the work of reproduction to a stage
when it is possible even for the private soldier to
afford to buy a copy, and this is the intention of
the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment.
As soon as finances permit coloured reproductions
on a smaller scale, but of equally good quality,
will be made and sold for the sum of 5s. each. In
this way they might become as popular as are the
prints of Lady Butler's wonderful battle pictures,
such as "The Roll Call" and "Scotland for
Ever."
LONDON
LIVERPOOL
SHEFFIELD
BRANCHES.
Hon. Secretary to the London County Committee: J. Boughey, 4»
Peabody Buildings, Herbrand Street, W.C.i.
N.W. Branch: Captain C. Alliston, 45, Regents Park Road, N.W.I.
L. N. Gerrard, 35, Dorset Road, Tue-Brook.
Captain J. Wilkinson, 40, Fieldhead Road, Highfield.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
BACUP
BANBURY
BARNSLEY
BIRMINGHAM
BLACKBURN
BLUNDELLSANDS
BOURNEMOUTH
BURTON-ON-TRENT
GREAT BRITAIN.
W. H. Duncan Arthur, Oak Dene, Todmorden Road.
Captain C. W. Fowke, Yew Tree House, King's Sutton.
T. Roscoe, 26, Oaklands, Old Mill.
J. E. Simkin, 10, Ellesmere Road, Salthey.
S. R. Phillips, 33, Chapel Street, Rishton.
A. M, Webster, Tacoma, Merrilocks Road.
H. L. Passmore, 40, Morley Road, Boscombe Park.
M. H. Hunt, 7, Gordon Street.
