Anyone know who Flight Sergeant W G Bennett was and his bio?

[Beardie]

Hi all,

 

I have been looking through images of world war one art on this here internet thing and I came across a painting at the Imperial War Museum titled 'The NCO Pilot RFC(Flight Sergeant W. G. Bennett)' gifted by the artist William Orpen in 1918. I don't have a great deal of resources to search apart from the internet and I have been unable to find any information at all on Flight Sergeant Bennett.

 

I am hoping that someone out there has the resources or knows where to look to find out about this chap.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Marty

[Old Man]

Have you tried here, Sir?

 

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?/forum/25-the-war-in-the-air/

 

I have twice sought information on specific persons and gotten quite informative answers here. Also information on specific aircraft (English serial numbers). People are friendly and helpful, and some quite knowledgeable. Worth signing up to ask.

[Beardie]

I say, thank you Old Man. I'm not a member on that forum but I shall sign up and see if anyone knows who the fellow was. I would assume that the artist, William Orpen had some particular reason why he chose to paint the portrait of him.

[Folkbox1]

I suppose you've already done this but I looked up William Orpen on Wikipedia and found this (William Orpen was an Irish War Artist and painted about 138 pictures - many of which were donated to the nation).

 

"Following the success of his Haig and Trenchard portraits, Orpen was asked to paint portraits of several pilots in the Royal Flying Corps. He spent part of September 1917 visiting airfields and during October 1917 he was based with No. 56 Squadron near Cassel. His portrait of Lieutenant Reginald Hoidge, MC and Bar, was painted a few hours after the young pilot had been in a dogfight and Orpen was greatly impressed by his calmness. Orpen's portrait of Arthur Rhys-Davids, DSO MC, is also crisply drawn with rich colours and lush shadows.^[2] Rhys-Davids was killed in combat within a week of sitting for Orpen and Orpen's portrait of him was used as the cover illustration of the next edition of War Pictorial magazine and widely reproduced elsewhere after that"

 

So it's possible that FSgt Bennett flew with 56 Squadron.

 

If he died (which is quite possible) you might find some more details on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site.  I think (but could be wrong) that WW1 medal cards are online (or you could visit the PRO in Kew) which would tell you some more details.

 

Darren

[Beardie]

Thanks Darren,

 

Yes I have already done a good bit of searching of the here old interweb including Wikipedia but failed to turn up any information whatsoever on Flight Sergeant Bennett. I did actually wonder if he didn't really exist as it does actually bear some little resemblance to William Orpen himself and Orpen was very fond of creating self portraits in different guises. I am somewhat surprised that there is little reference to this painting as Orpen was a very well known artists, and something of a rebel who had a colourful time at the front in WWI.

[Folkbox1]

I've had a look on the CWGC site and there isn't a WG Bennett listed amongst the dead.  the medal cards only show one WG Bennet as a corporal in the infantry.  It could be the same person who transferred to the RFC/RAF a some point but, if they survived the war I'm sure he would have got the victory medal under his RAF rank and unit.

 

I think you could be correct about it being a "fake"

 

 

[Dave Fleming]

One issue wirth RFC records is that often people transferred in - I've found a couple of W Bennetts in the RFC, but I suspect both are airmen.

 

WW1 records are notoriously difficult to search, due to incompleteness. I'll have a look an ancestry later if you like

[Beardie]

Hi Dave that would be much appreciated. I am still wondering if it is a 'mock-up' painting as there are many paintings by Orpen titled as things such as 'The Jockey' 'Man from Aran' 'Polish messenger' and others which are clearly Orpen himself as well as a fair number of titled self portraits. Seems like he was a little narcissistic.

[XV107]

Possibly William George Bennett, Royal Aero Club certificate No. 3726 (awarded October 1916). He appears in the Book A Contemptible Little Flying Corps, but I've had to dig out that detail via Google books rather than my own copy (which is at work). If I remember, I'll dig it out tomorrow (unless someone has a copy to hand to check) - he had the RFC number of 1275 - to get the full entry.

The online teasers of the book have him joining as a direct entrant in June 1914, going to France in October - he is on the medal cards for a 1914 Star; then becoming a pilot with 15 Squadron by 1917. He was then wounded in the leg by machine gun fire on 4 April 1917. According to Grace's Guide, he is listed as a Sergeant Mechanic (Pilot) in April 1918. 

 

I'd suggest that Orpen probably didn't make this one up and that there is a decent chance that the NCO pilot is one of the RFC 'pre-war originals' (if only just).

 

[Beardie]

Many thanks for that information that is very interesting. Sounds like it could well be the fellow.

[XV107]

Well, I did finally remember...

 

The book doesn't add much, but there is a photo - it can be found on Ancestry.com in rather better reproduction (with thanks to my father's subscription...)  on their database of Royal Aero Club certificate holders - which, if it isn't the man in the portrait/your avatar, is probably a near-identical twin...

 

He is listed as being resident at 11 Webster St, Aston (Birmingham). Born 28 April 1892; passed his certification on a Maurice Farman at Brooklands on 20 October 1916.

[malpaso]

There are only two Bennetts listed in the index of "High in the Empty Blue", but they are both Americans seconded (?) to 56 from USAS.

 

I don't know if that means no other Bennett in 56 or just that nothing noteworthy happened to him there.

 

HTH 

Cheers

Will

[Beardie]

Thank you very much XV107 I am indebted to you. Would it be possible for you to send me a copy of the picture, or post it up on here? I wish I had more talent,knowledge and funds for research. 

[XV107]

@Beardie - sorry -only just seen this; I'll try to find the photo again!

[sunapse]

Sorry I'm late to this. Hopefully you're all still active.

 

Flight Sergeant William George Bennett was my grandfather. Our family story of this portrait is that every year of the great war, one enlisted man was taken from each service to have his portrait done for the war archives. So the story goes, his portrait was done when he was back in England recuperating, with the sitting starting on 24 June 1917. He was wounded by machine gun fire from the ground during a contact patrol on 4 May 1917 and returned to England at the R6 Auxilliary Hospital in Perth on 18 May 1917. He then went on furlough on 16 June 1917 and officially returned 25 June 1917, the day after the first sitting for the portrait. It's unclear whether he went back to France after that, but he was declared unfit for service as a pilot on 27 September 1918, so if he did then it was back as an Air Mechanic again, which he was before becoming a pilot on 20 October 1916.

 

As far as the comments above go, they're all pretty accurate. There are two dates on record for when he was wounded, 5 April 1917 which is a mistaken entry, and 4 May 1917 which I believe is the actual date.

 

He was in Squadron 15 for all of his pilot service as far as I'm aware, at least that's what his records are saying. Detailed records however were lost in the London Blitz of WW2, like a lot of the WW1 archive, so there's a lot of gaps in his history.

 

One interesting thing is that there were always two portraits for these official portraits. The IWM has one (the one often seen on the web) which it drags out every so often, and the second one was given to my grandfather. He married after the war and moved to Sydney Australia in the 1920s, and the second portrait hung on the wall of their house and later their little apartment (where it would scare the hell out of me each time I visited as a little boy). After his and my grandmother's death, it went to my cousin, who now has it hanging on his wall. (I wish I had it on my wall!)

 

During WW2 he joined the RAAF in Sydney as a training officer, and two of his sons (my uncles) flew Lancasters in the UK and Hurricanes in Asia.

 

If you'd like any other information then please let me know. I'm actually in the early stages of looking at writing a book about him, so if you've since found any other information not posted in this forum, then I would love to hear from you as well. I'm also interested in what triggered your original query -- what made you ask about him?

 

You can view the IWM portrait here:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20775

 

 

Edited November 2, 2018 by sunapse
Corrected a date, added link to portrait, added date of portrait.

[sunapse]

Forgot to turn on notify me of replies, so please reply to this message and not my other one above. Thanks.

[sunapse]

One more follow up post. I've since found documentation that the copy of the portrait was possibly made in 1963, by a copyist who worked with the RAF during WW2, possibly at the request of my grandfather. So the IWM portrait is possibly a one-off, and the one we have is possibly the 1963 copy.

 

Once more, if anyone is further interested, then please contact me directly.

[noelh]

That's fascinating. Beardie is still around just probably hasn't seen this yet. 

 

Britmodeller triumphs again. Someone already seems to know the answer even if it takes a while.

 

I found out something new about my Grandfather just yesterday thanks to a fellow member. He was Gunner in the Royal Artillery 14/18. 

I wonder if there's a copy of the painting online somewhere?

[stevehnz]

Try @Beardie to bring him in.

Steve.

[Beardie]

Hi all, particularly @sunapse T'was I that started this thread and I am thrilled that, not only have we found that the gentleman in the image did indeed exist, but also discovered some of his history and from his own grandson no less. 

 

The reason he sparked my interest was simply that I was looking for some paintings of WWI airmen to practice my own portraiture skills on and found the William Orpen painting to be one that showed what looked like an interesting airman who had clearly seen a lot from the cockpit but I couldn't find anything on why he was chosen to be a subject or pretty much anything at all about him and I was keen to know more. Here is the copy oil painting that I made from the images of the painting I found online:

 

 

 

I am afraid that, studying it against the original with fresh eyes, it isn't what one could call an exact copy but hey I still like it and it currently hangs on my wall at home. The bluishness of the image is due to the camera I used rather than the actual tones of the picture which are much closer to the original Orpen painting.

[Beardie]

I forgot to add that, if you do write a book about him I, for one, would be interested in a copy. It is sad that we know so little about the individual men who fought so hard for their countries in WWI and I am sure there are others out there who have seen this portrait, or images of it and been keen to know more about the man but been unable to find a shred of information about him.

[sunapse]

Wow, that's awesome. You painted your own copy! I'll have to show my cousin.

A few extra facts for you then, although I'm still doing research and dates and facts often contradict.

 

I have a letter now dated 24 June 1918 saying that Flight Sergeant Bennett is to report to William Orpen in Earl's Court at 3pm on Monday 24 June 1918 and again at 3pm on Tuesday 25 June 1918. He is to bring is flying kit so Orpen can decide how he'd like him to look. This contradicts what I said earlier about the sitting date, I have another source that had the year as 1917, but I now believe it was 1918. At this point I'm now pretty sure that he was based in England, possibly instructing new pilots. His tour of France apparently ended on 18 May 1917 when he was evacuated to England. Our portrait copy was probably done by Stella Schmolle in 1963 – she was the official war artist to the ATS (women's army) during WW2, and I have a letter mentioning her. It cost my grandfather 10 pounds, which sounds like a bargain to me, I would have ordered several! According to another letter I have, a collection of paintings, including this portrait, toured the U.S. in 1918 as part of the war drive, apparently to show how the rest of the world outside the U.S. was "taking the brunt of the war", but by then the war was also done, so it was probably more "took the brunt of the war".

 

That's probably enough information, otherwise it will spoil the book. 🙂

[Beardie]

That is a great addition to the story. The selection letter suggests that William Orpen had chosen your grandfather specifically rather than at random either because he thought he would make a great subject or he had something special about him that Orpen felt should be marked out with a portrait. 

 

I wonder if your family copy was painted directly from the original, which I would imagine, would require some form of dispensation from the Imperial War Museum or whether it was done from photographs. It would be really interesting for me to see a photo of the copy that your family has.

[thorfinn]

As purely a fascinated observer, it's wonderful to see this thread 'play out' as it has. Great story!
I would add my hearty support for the idea of a book. As Beardie said, individual stories of these brave men...whatever their number...can only be far too few, considering the vast nunbers that took part on all sides.

Cheers

 

[Troffa]

What an absolutely marvelous thread!  And how apt that it finds it's way to us in this week of the Armistice centenary anniversary. Amazing.