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Notes
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On the right, with grey eyes and a small grey beard, Ben the bargee sits squarely in the stern of the barge, his left hand resting on the tiller as his gaze confronts the viewer. He wears a grey sweater, dark trousers and a flat cap placed far back on his head. His hands and features are large and his ruddy complexion indicates a man used to working outside in all weathers. His wife sits on the left, her hands folded in her lap. She wears a green apron over her dress, a blue knitted hat, and stares ahead through brown eyes to meet the gaze of the viewer. The cranes of Hull docks are visible in the background, with grey-painted ships, one clearly an armed merchantman, present on the left and the right, with barges alongside. The barges probably conveyed coal and other cargo and thus they could have belonged as equally in the nineteenth century as in the twentieth.
At the outbreak of the Second World War the artist joined the auxiliary Fire Service and did portraits of his comrades as well as scenes of the Blitz. In 1941 he was made an Official War Artist and was attached to the Ministry of Transport. He visited Hull following his release from the Fire Service and suggested this subject to the War Artists' Advisory Committee in June 1943, delivering the picture by the end of July.
Title
Big Ben the Bargee
Date
1943
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 89 x W 101.5 cm
Accession number
BHC3146
Work type
Painting
National Maritime Museum
Romney Road, Greenwich, London, Greater London SE10 9NF England
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Councillor C. H. Wilkinson, MBE, JP Grimsby Town Hall -
Sir Arthur Hutchinson The Fire Service College -
Mr E. H. Burrough, Headmaster (1955–1962) Dame Alice Owen's School -
Charles W. Heathcote, Chairman of Robey & Co. Ltd of Lincoln (1969–1972) Museum of Lincolnshire Life -
R. Dibnah, BEM, Motorman of the 'Nonsuch' Blockade Runner Imperial War Museum London -
Big Ben the Bargee National Maritime Museum -
W. M. Ladbrooke (active 1939–1945), Able Seaman, Merchant Navy National Maritime Museum - 65 more