Hi All,

The English Artist Joseph Gray joined the 4th (Dundee) Bn, The Black Watch, Royal Highlanders T.F. at the start of the war. He was working in Dundee as an artist when hostilities began which is why I am assuming he joined the 4th Black Watch. Many of the men working for the Dundee newspapers joined this battalion - of which Joseph Gray was one. He is mentioned in William Linton Andrews' book Haunting Years on page 18-19. Eventually he takes a commmision in the Battalion.

Joseph Gray produced the painting of 'Fourth Battalion Officers after the Battle of Neuve Chapelle', a copy of which is in Wauchope Volume II, page 10. Additionally, in the spring of 2008, the original should be back on display in the McManus Gallery in Dundee (the old Albert Institute). He also produced the picture for the 'Dinna Forget Book of the 4th Black Watch' (attached). As I child I also remember seeing the painting of rations being brought up to the front, again, by Joseph Gray.

First of all, I was wondering what happened to him? Concerning this, I would be very grateful if anyone could provide any biographical detail about the artist.

Also, does he have any other works that can be viewed, or copies available?

Any information on Joseph Gray would be gratefully received

Aye

Tom McC

Tom,

Is this your man? From the blurb of an item recently sold

Artist: Gray, Joseph (South Shields, 1890 - Westbrook, Angus, 1962)

Note: Joseph Gray: A British painter and etcher, Joseph Gray was educated in South Shields. Before the outbreak of World War One (1914), he traveled and sketched in Russia, Germany, Spain, France and Holland. During the First World War Joseph Gray served first in the Black Watch and then became a war artist for The Graphic. After the war Gray's paintings and engravings were exhibited widely, including at both the Royal Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy as well as at international expositions in Florence and Stockholm.
The majority of Joseph Gray's drypoint engravings depict architectural or landscape views. Printed in signed editions of seventy-five impressions, they were published in London by Dickens. The art of Joseph Gray is represented in the following collections; the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.

Chris,

That is brilliant, the very man , and at least that is a good start...I was expecting to not get an answer for years. It would still be good to find a bit more of a detailed biography of him.

Aye

Tom McC

Tom,
I recently picked up about 100 pages from "Th Graphic" that a now (apparently) defunct dealer had separated and placed into plastic envelopes with a card stiffener (ready for framing I suppose) - they were all individually priced but luckily I got the lot for the price of one... Actually I really wanted them because there is a super one of a Gordon on at a railway station booking counter entitled "Going home for Hogmanay".
On the basis of the mini bio I had a look through them (only the visible side I didn't go through them all and look on the back yet) but I did find these two by Joseph Gray from the 10th November 1917 edition.
Is the bottom one is your "rations picture"?
Chris

Chris,

That is fantastic that you have some copies from The Graphic. I have attached a copy of the rations picture that I saw when I was a young lad. It is from the wee blue book: The Black Watch, A Short History, by Bernard Ferguson.

As you can see the pictures are not the same, but there are quite obvious similarities though.

Would it be possible for you to email me a high definition picture of both the pictures please?

Aye

Tom McC

Tom,
Could you pm me your email, I seem to have misplaced it and I will send the copies.
Chris

Chris,

Here's a closer look at 'The Sniper'

Aye

Tom McC

Tom

Nearly 60 years ago my grandad took me into the Albert institute and showed me the big painting by By Joseph Gray of the "Fourth" after the battle of Neuve Chapelle, I have viewed it on many occasions since and look forward to it being restored to its old place.
Chris, thanks for showing your finds. I beleive the doctor attending the wounded in the photo is Major J S Y Rodgers a greatly loved and respected officer of the 4th and the 4/5th. He along with Lieut Cunningham were the only two officers that survived Loos. After the Great War he maintained his concerns over the welfare of his City battalion

Tom

Tom McC - I have resent at reduced size maybe they will get through

Tom (BlackJock) - thanks for the information.

I will try and go through and check for other Gray illustrations tonight.
Chris

Hi Tom and Chris,

This is the copy of Joseph Gray's painting of Neuve Chapelle.

Tom

Click to view attachment

Tom,

Hopefully, it's only a few months now til the McManus is open again; where the original painting of the 4th Black Watch after the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, by Joseph Gray is exhibited. I have attached a copy of the majority of the painting with this reply. In addition to the key provided in Bernard Ferguson's 'wee blue book', the individual characters can also be identified using the Key in Wauchope, opposite page 10.

Aye

Tom McC

Dear Tom
Joseph Gray was my great grandfather. Do you know the Ration Party painting which the Imperial War Museum own? It's a great image and based on the sketch first seen in the Graphic. I myself am trying to find out more about Joe. I'm writing his biog for my grandmother- Maureen Barclay - his only daughter. Joe served in the Second World War too, as a camouflage artist. He devised a particular kind of steel wool camouflage that was used to conceal bases from aerial attack. I've got the old edition of the Graphic which talks about the Neuve Chapelle painting being presented to Dundee in 1922, and there's a photo of all the men depicted. I'm afraid I don't have it as an image to send on computer but if you wanted I could give you that date so you could look it up.
all the best Mary

Mary,

It is absolutely tremendous to hear from you. I have been researching the 4th and 4/5th Black Watch for quite some time now and this is the second time that something out-of-the blue and remarkable has happened. The first was when a relative of Captain Talbert Stevenson got in touch, and the second is this response from yourself.

I remember seeing a few of Joseph's paintings as a child and I have found them all of them extremely powerful in that he would have first-hand experience of what it was really like. He served alongside many of the other 'fighter writers' and it would be fantastic if I could please pick your brains for some information about Joseph during his time in the Great War.

Yours Aye

Tom McCluskey

Dear Tom

I'm sorry for the slowness of my response. As yet I don't know too much about Joe's time in the Black Watch. We know he served in France in 1915 and 1916, and when he was there he sent back reports to the Dundee Courrier, but then he was invalided out. He later wrote in a letter that he lost most of his friends in the War, and he was profoundly deaf - I'm not sure if that was the result of the trenches - I'll ask my grandmother! Anyway, he worked after that for the Graphic, writing articles and illustrating war subjects, and I have pretty much all the articles he wrote recording the Black Watch's involvement in the War. He wrote in quite a jaunty style.

After the War he moved down to London and rented a studio on Tite Street. He did some portrait commissions (a very grand one of the then Lord Brocket) but when the Depression hit things were tough.

I know a lot more about his work during the Second World War, when he was a Camouflage Officer. He invented a kind of camouflage called 'Steel Wool' (not quite the stuff you have at home!) which was used to disguise big millitary bases and factories from air attack. They called him 'Uncle Grumble' and it seems he had quite a reputation for getting into scrapes. He was known to disappear for a week at a time and ignore air raid warnings, roaming all round London to sketch it during the Blitz. I have some of his correspondence from that time and there's a real sense of comraderie.

He died in 1963 and there was a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Grosvenor Galleries in 1966, opened by William Coldstream. He never showed his work much before then. Apparently, he just wouldn't!

I don't suppose you've come accross him in any other context, have you? I'm still trying to peiece together these bits.

all the very best
Mary

Hi Mary,

I do not have too much in the way of information on Joseph. I do have some of his reports on the 4th Black Watch in France though. Joseph gets a mention in William Linton Andrews' excellent book Haunting Years on pages 18-19, and in fact his arrival takes some of the heat off of Andrews.

As Andrews had a strange accent (to a Dundee ear), and maintained his inquisitve journalistic tendencies such as asking too many questions, he quickly made himself look suspicious (in the eyes of his peers) who thought he was a German spy. He is questioned by Captain Leslie Boase about his credentials - Andrews humouring himself througout the answering process. The same procedure meets Joseph Gray when he joins the 4th Black Watch. From Haunting Years:

We had much the same spy business again a week later when an English artist, Joseph Gray, joined our battalion. He had what the Scots people call a strong English accent. He was slightly deaf. I think he was seen reading German papers, so the rumour spread that he did not understand English fully, but spoke German and therefore must be a German.

I believe Joseph was extremely proud of his time in his old battalion, the 4th Black Watch. His words to introduce the Battalion, in a piece that he wrote whilst out of the fighting, is particularly touching:

The Fourth Black Watch in the first weeks of the war was the battalion through which above all others the sons of Dundee and environs rallied to the colours. Although many hundreds of gallant men from this corner of Scotland have found their way into other regiments and other services, it is the Fourth Black Watch that essentially personifies for us both the splendour and sorrow of our sacrifice. Individually we may follow the fortunes of other units, but in the Fourth, the whole city finds glory in victory and grief in adversity.

Joseph Gray 4th Black Watch 1917

Hope this is of use

Aye

Tom McC

Hi Mary

This is a photo I took today of the "Lost Generation Room" at Balhousie Castle, Regimental Headquarters of the Black Watch. as you can see his work is well represented.

Tom

Click to view attachment

And here is another


Click to view attachment

Thank you so much for the info AND photos. I'm still trying to find out more about Joe - my grandmother believes he was invalided out of the Black Watch because he suffered bouts of rheumatic fever. I've not much more to report but I'm going to start reading through his articles.

I'll keep you posted!
Mary

Mary,

Thank you for mentioning the rheumatic fever, as this will explain his departure from the battalion. I know that Joseph also painted a great picture of the 4th Bn The Seaforth Highlanders (T.F.) attacking on the first day of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle (10 March 1915). Something which Joseph would have witnessed, not to mention experienced the reality of the battle himself. Joe, at this time, would be in the Bareilly Brigade of the Meerut Division (The Seaforths being in the Dehra Dun Brigade of the Meerut). I don't know where the original painting is, but I would like to think that it is still held by the Regimental Headquarters/Mess or Regimental museum.

Hope this is of interest

Mary, could I be cheeky and ask if you have a photo of Joe in his kilt?

Aye

Tom McC

This is an article in the Dundee Peoples Journal for Saturday October 5th 1918

Tom


Click to view attachmentHi All,

Dear Tom
I do indeed have a fantastic full-length photo of Joe in his kilt! I don't have it scanned though, so I can't send it just yet, but if you give me your email adress I will try to do that soon...
Thanks for the other info, too. I don't know about this other painting but my grandmother might, so let me ask her. Also, you might be interested to know the Imperial War Museum have some interesting letters from Joe, relating to his painting of the Ration Party, and some other works. He describes vividly the real event this painting is based on, and provides a key showing the men he wanted to depict. He wrote that the appeal of doing such a composition was that it was part of a typical night operation which he himself had participated in many times before, as well as being a great moment in a famous battle. I suppose the Ration Party is a bit like the painting you describe, in that it's both an 'action scene' and a 'portrait'... Joe went on to do other commissons I know, and on several oaccasions he wrote to the Imperial War Museum requesting that he might be lent items of German kit and other equipment to aid his work, and he also asked for a Cameron Highlanders kit for a painting he was to execute for the regiment after the battle of Loos. In letters to Conway he explained his methods: he would always complete prelim sketches at the regimental barracks, drawing kit and portraits of the men, then he'd refer back to his early sketches of the terrain at Loos, Festubert and Neuve Chapelle. He wrote: 'I will not do anything unreal or false... my pictures show the war as it was.' He refused to do anything in the 'Romantic Lady Butler Woodville style' since 'most people want straight stuff' !!
I'm going through some of his letters from the 40s at present, when he was doing camouflage work, and I have to say it's great stuff.
all the best
amry

Tom,

Thanks for posting the further little snippet from the Dundee press.

Mary,

Thanks for posting further information concerning Joe, especially the information about the imperial War Museum. I will PM you my email address just now.

Aye

Tom McC

Tom,

Having today re-visited the forum, I have just come across this message string. I have e-mailed you a couple of press articles on the presentation of the Neuve Chapelle picture which my relative had kept in a scrapbook. I assume that your address has not changed

Andrew

Hello How old would that booklet with the sniper on the front be

thanks
max

Dear Mary
I came across your posting with interest whilst trying to find out more about the artist 'J.Gray' who is attributed to a drawing we have of Passchendaele Ridge, here at York Art Gallery. I wonder whether the artist could be your grandfather? I have attatched the image to this message and would appreciate your thoughts. It has been suggested that the image may show Captain Noel Chavasse who won a second Victoria Cross in the battle.
Thanks

Hello

I'm so sorry but I've not been looking at the forums for a while and i only just saw this. I recognise the image and I can't confirm the name of the main subject but the drawing (or a version of it) was published in THE GRAPHIC Nov 10, 1917.. It's entitled THE PUSH AROUND PASSCHENDAELE and is accompanied by the following caption: "This picture shows an incident during the fight for Paschendaele Ridge. A gallant regimental doctor and his stretcher-bearers followed the first line of our attack in the charge and attended the wounded in the open in the midst of very heavy fighting until they themselves were put out of action. The second wave of our troops is seen advancing, while in the background a wounded young officer gallantly cheers his men on. '

It is paired with another sketch which later became the painting The Ration Party, which is in the Imperial War Museum.

I didn't know there was a drawing in York Art Gallery's collection. Do you have details of the how and when it was acquired?
Thanks
Mary