William Knowle Hudson (b. 1892) - 1947 Oil Church In The Snow

Description

A picturesque rural church covered in thick snow under a blue sky. The artist has signed and dated to the lower right. At the reverse of the panel is an unfinished oil portrait of a young man in a suit. On wood panel.

Condition

There is some warp to the wooden panel and minor stress cracks across the surface.

Size

50.6 x 40.3cm (19.9" x 15.9")
Sheet: 52.3 x 43cm (20.6" x 16.9")

Artist Biography

William Knowle Hudson was born in Birmingham on 16th May 1892.
Hudson enlisted on 13th November 1914 when he was 22 years old and was appointed 2nd Lieutenant with the 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment and was transferred to the 7th Battalion later the same day.

He was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 July 1917 and then to Acting Captain at the end of the month. While he was serving on the Western Front at Arras he received a gunshot wound to the left knee which resulted in him leaving his unit on 2 December 1917. He was evacuated to Rouen and admitted to hospital. On 13 February 1918 he embarked at Rouen and two days later arrived at Southampton.
The wound received in France caused his left leg to be amputated and a temporary “peg leg” was fitted. In December 1918 William was a patient at the King’s Lancashire Military Convalescent Hospital in Blackpool waiting to have an artificial leg fitted and on 8 January 1919 he was officially promoted to the rank of Captain. In April 1919 he was still waiting for his artificial leg and had to be transferred to Alder Hey Special Military Surgical Hospital in Liverpool for an operation on his stump. A medical board then examined William on 5 August 1919 and found him “permanently unfit for any further military service” and stated that he should “proceed home and await admission to Roehampton” where his artificial leg was going to be fitted.
William relinquished his commission on 8 September 1919 and was able to retain the rank of Captain to use in civilian life. He returned home to “Lyndhurst”, Knowle, West Birmingham and then moved to Campden.
He arrived in Campden in the 1920s and was regularly seen around the town sitting on a stool doing oil paintings which he sold to make ends meet. He was a very good cricketer, despite having an artificial leg, and Lionel Ellis was always employed as his runner.