Edward Irvine Halliday

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(1902–1984) was a British painter, known for his portraits and his murals in the 1920s. He also worked in television and radio as a host.

About

Edward Irvine Halliday was born on 7 October 1902 in Garston,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, to James Halliday and Violet Irvine. He first attended

Liverpool College of Art Liverpool College of Art is located at 68 Hope Street, in Liverpool, England. It is a Grade II listed building. The original building, facing Mount Street, was designed by Thomas Cook and completed in 1883. The extension along Hope Street, des ...

. Halliday continued his studies and attended life drawing classes at

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

(1922–1923), the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

(1923–1925), and the

British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is an interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture. History The British School at Rome (BSR) was established in 1901 and granted a UK Royal Charter in 1912. Its mission is " ...

(1925–1928). He was awarded the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for Decorative Painting in 1925. He established himself as a portrait artist with his work, ''Lord Darling'' (1928). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Halliday served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

. After the war in 1948, he received a painting commission for a portrait of Princess Elizabeth from the

Drapers' Company The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 110 livery companies of the City of London. It has the formal name The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Dr ...

of London. This was the start of many more royal portrait commissions. Other sitters for Halliday's portraits included

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached t ...

Lord Denning Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999) was an English lawyer and judge. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when ...

Lord Widgery John Passmore Widgery, Baron Widgery, (24 July 1911 – 26 July 1981) was an English judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 1971 to 1980. He is principally noted for presiding over the Widgery Tribunal on the events ...

Louis Gluckstein Sir Louis Halle Gluckstein (23 February 1897 – 27 October 1979) was a British lawyer and Conservative Party politician. Family Gluckstein was born in Hampstead, London, the son of Joseph Gluckstein, whose brothers (Isidore and Montague) f ...

Robert Stopford Robert Wright Stopford, (20 February 1901 – 13 August 1976) was a British Anglican bishop. Early life and education Stopford was born in Garston, Merseyside (then in Lancashire), and educated at Coatham School in Redcar and Liverpool Colle ...

, Lord Hunt,

Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with inventing the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 for ...

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

Leon Goossens Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

Beryl Grey Dame Beryl Elizabeth Grey (née Groom; 11 June 1927 – 10 December 2022) was a British ballet dancer. Early life Born in Highgate, London, she began dance classes at the age of four while attending Sherbourne Preparatory School, and by age eig ...

Gladys Cooper Dame Gladys Constance Cooper, (18 December 1888 – 17 November 1971) was an English actress, theatrical manager and producer, whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television. Beginning as a teenager in Edwardian musi ...

Wally Hammond Walter Reginald Hammond (19 June 1903 – 1 July 1965) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed cap ...

Brian Johnston Brian Alexander Johnston (24 June 1912 – 5 January 1994), nicknamed Johnners, was a British cricket commentator, author, and television presenter. He was most prominently associated with the BBC during a career which lasted from 1946 until h ...

, and

Ben Travers Ben Travers (12 November 188618 December 1980) was an English writer. His output includes more than 20 plays, 30 screenplays, 5 novels, and 3 volumes of memoirs. He is best remembered for his long-running Aldwych farce, series of farces first ...

. Halliday had two arts series radio programs, ''Artists at Work'' (1932) and ''Design in Modern Life'' (1934). The success of these radio programmes led to further radio and television work. In the 1950s, Halliday was the voice behind the BBC

Television Newsreel ''Television Newsreel'' is a British television programme, the first regular news programme to be made in the UK. Produced by the BBC and screened on the BBC Television Service from 1948 to 1954 at 7.30pm, it adapted the traditional cinema news ...

Death and legacy

He died at his London home in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

, on 2 February 1984. His daughter Charlotte Halliday is a painter. Halliday's work is in many public museum collections including

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...

Bank of England Museum The Bank of England Museum, located within the Bank of England in the City of London, is home to a collection of diverse items relating to the history of the Bank and the UK economy from the Bank’s foundation in 1694 to the present day. The ...

Parliamentary Art Collection The Parliamentary Art Collection is a collection of around 8,500 artworks held by the United Kingdom Parliament. The works are jointly owned by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Approximately 80% of the collection is displayed at the ...

, among others.

References

1902 births 1994 deaths Liverpool College of Art Académie Colarossi alumni Alumni of the Royal College of Art British portrait artists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Prix de Rome (Britain) winners Artists from Liverpool People from Garston {{UK-artist-stub