Sir Oswald Hornby Joseph Birley (31 March 1880 – 6 May 1952) was an English
portrait painter
Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...
and
royal
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
portraitist in the early part of the 20th century.
Early life and family
Birley was born in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
to Hugh Francis Birley (1855–1916) while his parents were on a world tour. He was born into an old
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
family. Upon returning to England, he was educated at
Harrow School
(The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God)
, established = (Royal Charter)
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school
, religion = Church of E ...
, London and
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
.
He was the great-grandson of
Hugh Hornby Birley
Hugh Hornby Birley (10 March 1778 – 31 July 1845) was a leading Manchester millowner and Tory who is reputed to have led the fatal charge of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry at the Peterloo Massacre on 16 August 1819.
Early life
He was th ...
(1778–1845), who led the troops at the
Peterloo massacre
The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Fifteen people died when cavalry charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the reform of parliament ...
.
Career
Military service
He served in France in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, first with the
Royal Fusiliers
The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881.
The regiment served in many wars ...
, later transferring to the
Intelligence Corps, obtaining the rank of captain and being awarded the
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries.
The MC i ...
in 1919. 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 ...
he served with the rank of major in the
Home Guard
Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...
.
Painting career
A favourite of the Royal Family, he was well known for his portraits of
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
,
Queen Mary,
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
,
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...
and
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
.
He painted several highly regarded portraits of Sir
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 ...
(to whom he also gave lessons), and also a life-size portrait of
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
which was the first to be hung in the
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
shortly after
Indian Independence on 28 August 1947.
Other subjects were many war-time leaders such as Generals
Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
and
Montgomery, as well as Admiral
Mountbatten
The Mountbatten family is a British dynasty that originated as an English branch of the German princely Battenberg family. The name was adopted on 14 July 1917, three days before the British royal family changed its name to “Windsor”, by ...
and Air Marshal
Trenchard. He also painted the wealthy American financiers
Andrew Mellon
Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), sometimes A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. From the wealthy Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylva ...
and
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...
, the psychiatrist Sir
James Crichton-Browne
Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS FRSE (29 November 1840 – 31 January 1938) was a leading Scottish psychiatrist, neurologist and eugenicist. He is known for studies on the relationship of mental illness to brain injury and for the developmen ...
, and Welsh architect Sir
Clough Williams-Ellis
Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales. He became a major figure in the development of Welsh architec ...
.
Birley painted the portrait of Leeds
Lord Mayor Sir Charles Lupton (1855–1935).
He was
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
ed in 1949.
A major retrospective exhibition of Birley's work was held at the
Philip Mould & Company gallery on
Pall Mall in 2007.
Personal life
Charleston Manor roof trusses by Charlie Verrall
In 1921, the 41-year-old Birley married the 21-year-old "Irish beauty"
Rhoda Vava Mary Lecky Pike (1900–1981).
They bought and refurbished Charleston Manor in East Sussex. Rhoda later founded the Charleston Manor Festival there.
The couple had two children:
*
Maxime Birley (1922–2009),
a model and actress who married Count Alain Le Bailly de La Falaise (1905–1977)
They divorced in 1950, following a series of her infidelities, including an affair with British ambassador
Duff Cooper
Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat who was also a military and political historian.
First elected to Parliament in 19 ...
(1890–1954). She later married John McKendry, the curator of prints and photographs at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
.
*
Mark Birley
Marcus Oswald Hornby Lecky Birley (29 May 1930 – 24 August 2007), known as Mark Birley, was a British entrepreneur known for his investments in the hospitality industry.
Early life
Mark Birley was the son of Sir Oswald Birley (1880–1952), ...
(1930–2007), an entrepreneur and founder of
Annabel's
Annabel's is a private members club at 46 Berkeley Square in Mayfair, London.
It was opened at 44 Berkeley Square in 1963 by Mark Birley and named for his wife Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart. It was founded in the basement of the Clermont C ...
in London, who married
Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart
Lady Annabel Goldsmith (' Vane-Tempest-Stewart, formerly Birley; born 11 June 1934) is an English socialite and the eponym for a London nightclub of the late 20th century, Annabel's. She was first married for two decades to entrepreneur Mark B ...
(born 1934). They divorced in 1975 after her affair with Birley's friend
Sir James Goldsmith
Sir James Michael Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997) was a French-British financier, tycoon''Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith'' by Ivan Fallon and politician who was a member of the Goldsmith family.
His contr ...
(1933–1997).
Birley died at his home in London on 6 May 1952, a week after returning from six-week trip to the United States where he received medical assistance.
Descendants
Birley's descendants include
Robin Birley (born 1958), who married
Lucy Ferry (1960–2018), and
India Jane Birley
India Jane Birley (born 1961) is a British artist and businesswoman. Her father, Mark Birley, opened the private member's club Annabel's, named for her mother, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, in the early 1960s and Birley ran the club with her brother ...
(born 1961). Other descendants include the fashion designer and muse
Loulou de la Falaise
Louise Vava Lucia Henriette Le Bailly de La Falaise (; 4 May 1947 – 5 November 2011), known as Loulou de la Falaise, was an English fashion muse and accessory and jewellery designer associated with Yves Saint Laurent. Author Judith Thurman ...
(1948–2011), who was married to
Desmond FitzGerald, 29th
Knight of Glin
The Knight of Glin (; dormant 14 September 2011), also known as the Black Knight or Knight of the Valley, was a hereditary title held by the FitzGerald and FitzMaurice families of County Limerick, Ireland, since the early 14th century. The fam ...
(1937–2011), and later to Thadée Klossowski de Rola, a French writer who is the younger son of the painter
Balthus
Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his image ...
(1908–2001). Loulou de la Falaise's niece is the fashion model
Lucie de la Falaise
Lucie de la Falaise (born 19 February 1973) is a Welsh-born French fashion stylist, former model, and socialite.
Early life
Lucie le Bailly de la Falaise was born in Wales in 1973, and grew up on a sheep farm. She is the younger of two children ...
(born 1973).
References
External links
*
Churchill by Oswald Birley - UK Parliament Living HeritageCharleston Manor*
Works by Oswald Birley (public domain in Canada)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birley, Oswald
1880 births
1952 deaths
19th-century English painters
20th-century English painters
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Oswald Birley
Sir Oswald Hornby Joseph Birley (31 March 1880 – 6 May 1952) was an English portrait painter and royal portraitist in the early part of the 20th century.
Early life and family
Birley was born in New Zealand to Hugh Francis Birley (1855–19 ...
British Army personnel of World War I
British Home Guard officers
British people of English descent
English male painters
English portrait painters
Intelligence Corps officers
Knights Bachelor
New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom
New Zealand knights
People educated at Harrow School
Royal Fusiliers officers
Members of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters