ARTISTS RIFLES
The Artists Rifles Regiment was formed in May 1859 when Edward Sterling, then an art student at Cary's School of Art and a ward of the famous historian Thomas Carlyl (4 December 1795-5 February 1881), organised a meeting in his studio. He proposed forming a volunteer corps composed entirely of painters, sculptors, musicians, architects, and actors and on 28 February 1860, the group was officially established as the 38th Middlesex (Artists') Rifle Volunteer Corps. It was a volunteer regiment and formed out of the widespread fear of a French invasion. Many of those who joined were artists, actors, musicians, and architects and its first headquarters was located at Burlington House in London. Its first commanders were the painters Henry Wyndham Phillips (7 July 7 1820–8 December 1868) and [Lord] Frederic Leighton (3 December 1830-25 January 1896). Creativity and beauty were at the core of the Artists Rifles, which may seem an odd combination for an army regiment, but one can see both qualities even in the regimental cap badge. Other renowned artists also joined the regiment in its early period, such as John Everett Millais (8 June 1829–13 August 1896), George Frederic Watts and William Morris (24 March 1834–3 October 1896), but the Artists Rifles were a fighting, active regiment and saw action in the Boer War and after some reorganisation it became the 28th (County of London) Battalion on 1st April 1908. The First World War would see the regiment leading from the front as they become a training regiment for officers in this period. It is also for this reason that the Artists Rifles had one of the highest casualty rates of any regiment. Members of the regiment would be awarded eight Victoria Cross's and over 850 other military awards including 52 Distinguished Service Order's and 822 Military Cross's and were mentioned in dispatches 564 times. After the First World War, the Artists Rifles were active as a training regiment in the Second World War, had links with the Special Air Service and become a unit of the Territorial Army in 1967. Suffolk artists associated with the Artists Rifles include Felix Emile Andrews, John Nash, William Palmer Robins, Robert Borlase Smart, Arthur Reginald Smith; Frederick Boyd Waters and John Millar Watt.
Works by This Artist
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