I've just been browsing through the fantastic BBC 'Your Paintings' site - well worth a look, some amazing pictures held by local councils etc. around the country. Plus, technically these paintings belong to the public - always nice.
'Remember Scarborough' by Edith Kemp-Welch really caught my eye - well, it's quite striking after all, given the amount of red in the picture, but there were also a couple of other things that got me thinking...
Firstly, I couldn't quite tell if this was propaganda or not at first - since looking at it, I've found out that the image was used on an enlistment poster, so I guess it was. At first though, while it was obviously patriotic, I couldn't really tell if this was from 'the establishment,' or not. What do you think?
Secondly, why Scarborough? Turns out Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough were raided by the German navy in 1914. You learn something new every day.
Another thing that struck me was that it was painted by a woman - not unheard of in this period, though not common either, particularly as the stereotypical war artist is a man. There's a brief video from the IWM last year on the subject of women war artists here.
If your ancestors were from Scarborough, maybe they witnessed the raiding - could you imagine that? Or maybe there's a woman artist hiding in the branches of your family tree, you never know.
See you next time!
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