Trench Art

Cecil Weatherill Elliott was a 14 year old schoolboy at a school in Ealing when he gave this sketchbook to his Greek teacher, Mr Whitestone, in July 1918.

The treatment of war is heroic, with acknowledgement of the contribution of the Allies.

Later pages show Elliott and his classmates as Greek heroes under the tutelage of their wise master.

This is 13- or 14-year-old Elliott and his classmates learning ancient Greek with Mr Whitestone, with the names of the Seven Sages of Greece.

Mr Whitestone is Solon, renowned for his wise counsel. 'Nothing in excess'

Elliott is Chilo 'Do not desire the impossible'

Tabor is Thales  'Know thyself'

Murphy is Cleobulus  'Moderation is best in all things'

Harvey is Bias  'Most men are bad'

Thompson is Periander  'Be farsighted with everything'

Allcock is Pittacus  'Know thy opportunity'

[NB. No attempt at likeness has been made.]

Mr Whitestone (Solon) is studying, looking at Bias.

Chilo is off to archery practice.

Pittacus runs off with Cheobulus' book as Periander watches.

Thales is reading, with the help of a magnifying glass.

(No physical likeness attempted in any way at all.)

This is a graduation certificate for the 7 Wise Men, signed by Elliott, for the period September 1916 - July 1918 when the sketchbook was presented to Mr Whitestone.

Their pseudonyms are written in Greek, alongside their surnames with initials.

Mr R.A.W. Whitestone - 

Reginald Arthur Wolseley WHITESTONE (c1869 - 1942) was the son of a vicar. In 1891 he was a Cambridge undergraduate living with his widowed mother, according to the census.  He married in 1907, and was listed as a schoolmaster in 1911.

C.W.Elliott -

Cecil Weatherill ELLIOTT (c1904 - 1990) was the son of a Secretary and General Manager of a Soda Fountain. He followed in his father's footsteps and became a Chartered Accountant in Chancery Lane. He died at the age of 87 on the Isle of Wight.

J.G.M. Allcock -

John Gladding M ALLCOCK (c1905 - 1986) was the son of a Church of England clergyman. He went on to become 'Her Majesty's Inspector Board of Education' and died at Poole, Dorset at the age of 81.

F.J. Tabor -

Francis John TABOR was born in Kent around 1906. His father was a teacher and 'Demonstrator in Botany'. Francis stayed on in Ealing and became an articled clerk in a solicitor's office.

This appears to be copied from a postcard with the same title.

The Album is small - approx 7 by 4.5 inches. The original blue cover has been carefully papered over. 

I have shown the pages in the order they appear in the scrapbook.

The Late Pte. Ed. WARNER, VC

Edward Warner was indeed a war hero.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has this extract from the London Gazette, No. 29210, dated 29 June 1915:-

"For most conspicuous bravery near 'Hill 60' on 1st May, 1915. After Trench 46 had been vacated by our troops, consequent on a gas attack, Private Warner entered it single-handed in order to prevent the enemy taking possession. Reinforcements were sent to Private Warner, but could not reach him owing to the gas. He then came back and brought up more men, by which time he was completely exhausted, but the trench was held until the enemy's attack ceased. This very gallant soldier died shortly afterwards from the effects of gas poisoning."

There's a Do not cross message near the sketch of the English Channel at the top of the page.

And a Proposed gargoyle for Rheims cathedral at the bottom of the page. 

An Australia Volunteer and his flag, the former having given his life for his Mother Country.

Note: The Australian flags in Marjorie's album are the Union Jack and the White Ensign, as per C.W.Elliott's sketchbook. 

The wonderful irony of the Statue of Liberty becoming Britannia suggests that much of the album is Marjorie's own work.

Both images have the same frame, so perhaps they were originally part of a satire - taken literally by the child. 

Wounded Japs in a hospital camp.

Some types of our Eastern Allies the Japanese.

1. POINT ARROW TO DAY OF MONTH ON MESSAGE FORM.

2. CODE OR DECODE FROM SCALE TO WHICH ARROW BEING USED IS POINTING.

3. USE Z AS GROUP SPACER AND CODE IT.

4. SEND CODED MESSAGE IN FIVE LETTER GROUPS.

5. CODE MISCELLANEOUS SIGNALS.

6. DO NOT CODE AAA.

7. NUMBERS: 

ZN [ CODED LETTERS CORRESPONDING TO NUMBERS] NZ

WITH ZN TO NZ ALSO CODED.

According to Ron, Mary Belle was born 16 March 1894 in Montgomery Creek, California. 'Her father, Alvin J Michaelson was from Germany, and to the best of my hunting, I believe he arrived in the States in 1880.'

'My grandmother served with the U.S. Army. From what I have seen and heard, there were not many of them.'

I found Mary B. Michaelson on the top of page 831 in the following document, showing 1918 postings to the Letterman General Hospital in California.

Nursing News and Announcements
The American Journal of Nursing
Vol. 18, No. 9 (Jun., 1918), pp. 821-846
Published by: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3405677

The Letterman General Hospital was the first army general hospital in the US to employ women, according to their website.

From there Nurse Michaelson was sent to France.

War service was hard, uncomfortable and heartbreaking, according to the Military Nurses in WW1 website. Overseas the nurses faced raw, cold weather and shortages of water for bathing and laundry, long hours at work and little privacy or time off. They treated shrapnel wounds, infections, mustard gas burns, exposure and medical and emotional trauma.

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Mary Belle had a treasured memento from those troubled times - a wonderfully romantic Charles Murat cigarette case with the inscription France 1919.

What follows is pure conjecture, put together by Ron and me. It is the bittersweet story of a wartime romance. The ending is sad - but Mary Belle treasured the memento until her grandson discovered it a lifetime later.

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Ron sent me the portrait of Mary Belle after I bought the cigarette case. I wrote to thank him for it.

On Nov 21, 2016, at 11:58 PM, Judy Waugh <judywaugh@flexinet.com.au> wrote:

Oh she is beautiful!

How lovely. I may have to add her to my website further down the track, if that’s ok with you.

I’d like to think the Charles Murat case was maybe given to her by an admirer, or by someone who was grateful to her as a nurse. It’s the sort of thing that was given to me at that age, that I never would have bought for myself. A reminder of a special time. 

This is all romantic fantasy of course - and I never indulge that with my research, particularly with the trench art that belonged to soldiers who died. I stick to the facts and never ascribe emotion. I rarely even say ‘perhaps . . ‘.

It’s going to be different in my next book, which is about convict love tokens and stories of transportation. There’s no way of knowing if I’ve got the right convict. All I can say is that ‘there was a convict of that name and this is what happened to him’ but he may not be the convict named on the love token.

Thanks so much for the photo of your Grandma. You’ve added a lovely patina to the story!

Kind regards
Judy

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Ron added to the story with his reply.

From: Witt <witro4@aol.com>
Subject: Re: witro41wee has sent a message
Date: 23 November 2016 2:44:30 am AEST
To: Judy Waugh <judywaugh@flexinet.com.au>

I love that picture. It is the only one we have when she was young. 

Your romantic fantasy may be accurate. She married a mystery man from the state of Georgia. He was born in 1901. I have not been able to find anything on his mom but, his dad died in 1906.  A half uncle raised him. Then he lied about his age joined the army in 1916. Seven months later the army found out his true age and gave him the boot. I have not found anything on the 1920 census. They married in 1922. How and where they met I do not know. They eventually divorced and he has been hard to track. 

Please feel free to add the photo to your website.

I am so happy that you bought the case. It has found a good home.

Ron

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