Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly (1896–1971),

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, MC, RI, known to friends and colleagues as 'TK', was a British army officer, school teacher, and artist, known especially for his

watercolour painting Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

s of ornithological subjects.

Early life

Talbot Kelly was born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

, then in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England, on 20 August 1896. He was the only son of Lilias Fisher Kelly and Robert Talbot Kelly. His father was also a successful artist, as was his paternal grandfather, the Irish landscape and portrait painter, Robert George Kelly. The family lived in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, which was then in

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 ...

, but moved to London when Talbot Kelly was six. He was educated at The Hall School, Hampstead, followed by a boarding school in

Rottingdean Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards. Name The name Rottingde ...

, then

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

and finally the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

Military career

Talbot Kelly was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

with the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link ...

on 22 April 1915. He served as a Forward Observation Officer with the 9th (Scottish) Division, 52nd Brigade,

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

, in France, from May 1915 until January 1917. He saw combat in the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

(1915), the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

(1916) and the Battle of Arras (1917). He subsequently served in an Army Field Artillery Brigade, and was 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 June 1917. He was wounded by the blast from a shell at the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

on 5 August 1917. After convalescing at home, he returned to France in April 1918, then taught camouflage at the School of Artillery in Larkhill. He successfully requested a transfer to the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

, but before he could undertake pilot training, the war came to an end. After the war, he remained with the military, serving in the Royal Artillery in India. Having married Dorothy Bundy (daughter of the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

painter

Edgar Bundy Edgar Bundy (1862 in Brighton – 1922 in London) was an English painter. Biography Bundy had no formal training but learned some of his craft at the studio of Alfred Stevens. Bundy specialised in historical paintings in oil and watercolour ...

) in 1924, he was discharged from the army in 1929. In 1939, on the outbreak of

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 received his army recall (service number 14791), and was Chief Instructor at the War Office Camouflage Development and Training Centre in Farnham for the duration of the war. He was made a

Brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

Major on 3 August 1942, a rank he retained until discharge. For his work at Farnham he was appointed, in the

1944 New Year Honours The 1944 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1944 for the Briti ...

, a

Member of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...

(MBE). At that time he was also credited with the rank of Temporary Major. His memoir, ''A Subaltern's Odyssey: Memoirs of the Great War, 1915–1917'', was published posthumously in 1980.

Civilian career

After the First World War, Talbot Kelly began to exhibit his bird paintings. In 1925, he was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. Upon leaving the army in 1929, Talbot Kelly was appointed Director of Art at his ,

and, during the 1930s began to publish books of his paintings. He exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

. He painted posters for British Rail,

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

, and London Transport. He was engaged as the design consultant for the Pavilion of Natural Science at the 1951

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

. He was a founder-member, in 1964, of the

Society of Wildlife Artists The Society of Wildlife Artists is a British organisation for artists who paint or draw wildlife. It was founded in 1964. Its founder President was Sir Peter Scott, the current President of the society is British artist Harriet Mead. The society ...

. While at Rugby, he also worked in museums, curating the natural history collections of Warwick Museum and the National History Museum of Uganda. He retired from teaching in 1966. In retirement, he worked as a volunteer curator in his new home town of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, and as a book illustrator.

Death and legacy

Talbot Kelly died at his home in Leicester on 30 March 1971. A number of his watercolours from the Western Front are in the collection of the United Kingdom's

National Army Museum The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the "Chelsea Pensioners". The museum is a non-departmental public body. ...

. His painting "Young Lapwing" is in the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

. A copy of his 1927 poster for the

Underground Electric Railways Company of London The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (UERL), known operationally as the Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an und ...

, "Zoo: Common and Spiny Lobster", is in the collection of the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. A copy of his poster for

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

, "Norfolk – Heron & Bearded Tits", and one of his 1960 London Transport poster "When did you last see your Ravens?" are in the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

, London. His daughter is the ornithological artist Chloe Elizabeth Talbot Kelly, like her father a founder member of the

. His son Richard Giles Talbot Kelly (1929–2006) was also an artist. Previewing a 2015

World Land Trust The World Land Trust is a UK registered charity. It raises money to buy and then protect environmentally-threatened land in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. In 2018 it claimed to have raised more than £25 million and to have bought ...

Art Gallery exhibition which included his work, Nikki Hawes wrote of Talbot Kelly:

Publications

* * * * *

Illustrated by Talbot Kelly

* *

References

External links

Examples of Talbot Kelly's work
at

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

Examples of Talbot Kelly's work
at MutualArt.com
London Transport Museum: Posters by Talbot Kelly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot Kelly, Richard Barrett 1896 births 1971 deaths Royal Field Artillery officers Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Rochdale People educated at The Hall School, Hampstead People educated at Rugby School Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Royal Horse Artillery officers Royal Flying Corps officers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II People from Leicester Recipients of the Military Cross Military personnel from Birkenhead