Edward
Firstname
Jeffrey Irving
Middle Name
Ardizzone
Surname
Date of Birth
School Years:
Date of Death:
1909 - 12
Family
Born in Haiphong and came to England aged 5.
Father Auguste, a naturalised Frenchman of italian descent working for the French colonial Service.
Mother Margaret Alexander whose father was Assistant Colonial Secretary in Singapore.
School Record
In his book "The Young Ardizzone" he made it clear that he disliked the junior department under Miss Hunt. He feared the lessons and felt that Miss Hunt thought him exceptionally stupid. He was unnerved by the large classroom in which it was customary, at the time, to have up to 45 pupils. His experience in the senior school was not much better and he was a victim of frequent bullying. His last year was brightened by the arrival of his cousin Arthur who was older and tougher. His experience of Ipswich Docks is as a result of visits there with his cousin. The family moved from East Anglia in 1912 and he had a happier time at Clayesmore School where his painting and drawing were encouraged.
Branch of Service:
Army Royal artillery
Service Number:
Rank:
Decorations:
Service Record
Lieutenant
Campaign Medals
Post War Career
After enlisting and spending a short spell in an air-craft unit. he worked as a full time official war artist assigned to the War Office by The War Artists' Advisory Committee. He served with the British Expeditionary Force and depicted its retreat through France and Belgium. He was evacuated back to Britain in May 1940. At home, he sketched and painted troops at their training camps and spent nights sketching in the London Underground where tunnels were being used as air-raid shelters. The early part of 1941 was spent travelling round Scotland. In January 1942, he recorded the arrival of American troops in Northern Ireland and, in March, he went to Cairo with the British First Army on its march to Tunisia. He then joined the 8th Army and by July 1943 was in Sicily where he witnessed combat at close quarters. He travelled through Italy until April 1944 when he flew to Algiers and sailed back to Britain. He then went to France with the invasion forces in 1944 but, by September 1944 was back in Italy. He witnessed the fall of Reggio Calabria and Naples. He then travelled to Germany for the final months of the War and returned to England in May 1945.
Prior to the War, he began life as an office clerk, becoming a naturalised British citizen in 1922. He took evening classes at Westminster School of Art and, in1926, with financial support from his father, he became a professional freelance Artist. He started illustrating and, then, in 1936, he wrote and illustrated his best known work, the Tim series of children's books. By 1939, he was holding one-man exhibitions on a regular basis.
After the War, he resumed his freelance career. He was commissioned to produce a watercolour portrait of Winston Churchill. As well as writing and illustrating his own books, he provided drawings for some editions of the Trollope novels, J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan and John Betjeman's abridged version for children of his autobiographical poem "Summoned by Bells (1960)"
Burial Information
Additional Information
Obituary O.I.M.No.29 of 1981 at pages 80 and 81.
Appreciation, The Legacy of Edward Ardizzone by Archibald Marshall O.I.M. Volume 9 September 2008 at pages 26 - 30.
Other Pictures
