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Eva Sawyer 1921 Pastel Portrait Royal WWII Mystery
This is a 1921 Pastel head and shoulders Portrait by the Society Portraitist Eva Sawyer (Mrs. Eric Palmer), of John Arthur Lowther aged 11, grandson of lst Viscount Ullswater, 1855-1949, Speaker of the House of Commons 1905-1921. the longest serving speaker of the 19th Century. His father was Major the Honourable Christopher William Lowther (1887-1935) and his mother Ina Marjorie Gwendolin Pelly (1885-1969). His father was the Conservative MP for North Cumberland from 1918-1922. John is drawn looking straight ahead with his short brown hair neatly combed. He is wearing a fawn shirt and a brown tie. He has blue eyes. The artist has signed the pastel to the lower right and dated it 1921, as shown.
There is little information about his early life, education etc., but, in the London Gazette of 1935, it was announced that he was to become the Private Secretary to Prince George, the Duke of Kent, as from 1st April, a position he was to hold for seven years. According to a newspaper article, he was a very efficient secretary.
Two years later John was to marry Priscilla Violet Lambert 1917-1945. They were given special permission to marry in the Temple Church, and Prince George was his best man. The Duchess of York also attended the wedding. They had two children, The Hon. Kirstin Elizabethh Lowther born in 1939, and Nicholas Lowther 2nd Viscount Ullswater, born in January, 1942. His wife sadly died of TB two years later in November 1945, leaving two very young children. His son became one of the very few Peers to succeed their great grandfather.
In August 1942, Prince George, who had switched from the Royal Navy to the RAF, with responsibility for the welfare of RAF servicemen, was scheduled to make a trip to Iceland to boost the morale of the troops there, or so the official story goes. On 25th Aguust, 1942, the Prince, his Private Secretary John Lowther, his Air Equerry the Hon. Michael Strutt and his batman LAC John Holes joined the crew of eleven of the Short Sunderland flying boat w4026 at 228 Squadron's base at Invergordon, for the flight to Iceland. The flight was due to follow the coast up to Duncansby Head and then turn north west for the rest of the flight. This was to enable the plane to travel only over water, as the flying boats were supposed to, as they could only land on water if in trouble. About 32 minutes after take off, the plane lost height and crashed into Eagles Crag near Dunbeath in Caithness. As its tanks were almost full with 2,500 gallons of fuel, it exploded on impact, with the loss of all but one of the passengers and crew.
There are very many contradictions over the entire incident. The results of the official enquiry have been lost, as has the original flight plan. There is, however, a record in Hansard where a statement was made in the HOC of the results. The pilot was blamed for the navigational error that took the plane inland, rather than maintaining its course over water and apparently it's engines were at full power at the time of the crash.. Some say the Prince was thrown out of the plane some distance away, some that he was pulled from the wreckage by the survivor and some that he was in the pilot's seat at the time of the crash. He was a trained pilot and, at the time of the crash some of his friends were staying very near to the crash site. It is said that the last communication over the intercom was 'Let's go down and have a look'.
Officially, there were 15 persons onboard the Sunderland, but the King's Private Secretary, Sir A. F. Lascelles apparently wrote down that there were 16. One theory was that the trip was, in fact, a peace mission to Sweden where discussions would be had with certain factions wishing peace with Germany, and that Swedish banknotes were found on board, although after the fireball that engulfed the plane, that seems unlikely. There is also a story by one of the RAF servicemen sent out to retrieve the bodies from the wreck, that there was a woman on board and that he found her body, female clothes and her jewel case. His sergeant apparently told him never to speak of what he had seen.
The sole survivor who was the tail gunner and who only survived as his turret broke away from the plane, was burnt on his hands and face. He wandered around for about 24 hours before either finding a cottage, or being found. It is said that he was visited in hospital by two senior RAF Officers and was made to sign the Official Secrets Act, which may be true, as he refused to speak of the accident for almost the rest of his life, other than a very short statement to the enquiry, which left a lot unsaid. He did say that he thought the pilot should have had no blame attached to him and was unfairly treated. After his death it was said that he told his family that there was an extra person on the plane who was never accounted for, but not whether they were male or female.
Another theory is that the 16th person was Rudolf Hess, going on the peace mission and that the person who died in Spandau prison was, in fact, a double. The RAMC Doctor who looked after him in Spandau has always stated that he wasn't Rudolf Hess.
A couple of other anomalies that are on the internet are that King George VI visited the site of his brother's death and commented on the large area of charred ground. But in another researcher's story in the Daily Mail in 1921, he said that when the King visited, the area had been turfed and the heather replanted and that he had found that this had never happened after any other crash. In one account, it is said that the plane was loaded with 2000lb of depth charges, in case they spotted a submarine, as it was commonplace for Sunderland flying boats to do convoy escort duty to keep German U-boats submerged by depth charging them to let the convoy get away. It was also stated that these were exploded at the site of the crash without warning and the local village was shocked. Not being an export on explosives I cannot comment, except to say that I would have thought the depth charges would not have survived a crash and a fireball intact. However, we have seen a black and white photo of the wreckage and there was quite an amount of it and it didn't look burnt.
Two weeks later, on the 5th of September, 1942 Sunderland W4032 took off from Oban on a convoy protection mission. Onboard were 10 crew and a journalist, Fred NanCarrow, from the Glasgow Herald. Much has been made of NanCarrow’s presence and some say he was investigating the death of the Duke of Kent. To cut a long story short, the Sunderland ran out of fuel and the pilot decided to ditch in Vane Bay, where it hit a rock and started sinking. Fred Nancarrow's body wwas never found, although there were a couple of survivors found alive. It seems rather strange that a war correspondent who wished to investigate the death of Prince George, would go out on convoy escort duty, rather than travelling to Dunbeath by other means.
There are just too many inconsistencies around this crash that it is no wonder there is a book being written and conspiracy theories abound.
Eva Sawyer was born Eveline Mysie Sawyer to Lt. Colonel and Mrs. W. H. Sawyer in Burnham, Buckinghamshire on 30th April 1885, one of three children. We understand from a newspaper article that she studied art in Brussels prior to WWI. However, we found a portrait which appeared in a magazine by her dated 1912, and another dated 1913. After this time her portraits of fashionable and aristocratic ladies appeared regularly on the pages of The Sketch, Tatler and The Bystander.
In 1919, she married Captain Eric C. Palmer MC, whose family owned the shipyard in Jarrow, but continued to work under her maiden name of Eva Sawyer. She and her husband spent two years in Budapest, where she produced pastel portraits of famous stage artists, as well as society portraits. She had an exhibition of her portraits at the Claridge Gallery in 1927, shortly after her return from Hungary and another at Coolings Gallery in 1936. She had a studio in Chelsea.
In the 1939 Register, she and her husband were living at 31a Brompton Square in London and she is listed as being of private means. He was listed as an electro-chemical engineer.
As very few of her many works come to the market, one can only assume that, as most of her subjects were from the aristocracy, they are still in private hands. Eva Sawyer died on the 23rd August, 1978.
The picture is newly framed in a very nice antique swept gilt frame and is newly double mounted in two-tone acid-free mountboard to complement. It will be supplied with new brass hangers, new brass picture wire and will be ready to hang.
Image size: 19 x 13 1/2 inches - 48.25cm x 34.25cm
Frame size: 23 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches - 50.35cm x 45.1cm
Medium: Pastels on paper
Condition: Very good. There are no losses or foxing. The frame is in very good condition, and the mounts are new.
SellerStudio RT Ltd
View all stock from
Studio RT Ltd
Private Art dealer
By appointment only
Kent
England, UK
Tel : 01622 812556
Non UK callers : +44 1622 812556
There is little information about his early life, education etc., but, in the London Gazette of 1935, it was announced that he was to become the Private Secretary to Prince George, the Duke of Kent, as from 1st April, a position he was to hold for seven years. According to a newspaper article, he was a very efficient secretary.
Two years later John was to marry Priscilla Violet Lambert 1917-1945. They were given special permission to marry in the Temple Church, and Prince George was his best man. The Duchess of York also attended the wedding. They had two children, The Hon. Kirstin Elizabethh Lowther born in 1939, and Nicholas Lowther 2nd Viscount Ullswater, born in January, 1942. His wife sadly died of TB two years later in November 1945, leaving two very young children. His son became one of the very few Peers to succeed their great grandfather.
In August 1942, Prince George, who had switched from the Royal Navy to the RAF, with responsibility for the welfare of RAF servicemen, was scheduled to make a trip to Iceland to boost the morale of the troops there, or so the official story goes. On 25th Aguust, 1942, the Prince, his Private Secretary John Lowther, his Air Equerry the Hon. Michael Strutt and his batman LAC John Holes joined the crew of eleven of the Short Sunderland flying boat w4026 at 228 Squadron's base at Invergordon, for the flight to Iceland. The flight was due to follow the coast up to Duncansby Head and then turn north west for the rest of the flight. This was to enable the plane to travel only over water, as the flying boats were supposed to, as they could only land on water if in trouble. About 32 minutes after take off, the plane lost height and crashed into Eagles Crag near Dunbeath in Caithness. As its tanks were almost full with 2,500 gallons of fuel, it exploded on impact, with the loss of all but one of the passengers and crew.
There are very many contradictions over the entire incident. The results of the official enquiry have been lost, as has the original flight plan. There is, however, a record in Hansard where a statement was made in the HOC of the results. The pilot was blamed for the navigational error that took the plane inland, rather than maintaining its course over water and apparently it's engines were at full power at the time of the crash.. Some say the Prince was thrown out of the plane some distance away, some that he was pulled from the wreckage by the survivor and some that he was in the pilot's seat at the time of the crash. He was a trained pilot and, at the time of the crash some of his friends were staying very near to the crash site. It is said that the last communication over the intercom was 'Let's go down and have a look'.
Officially, there were 15 persons onboard the Sunderland, but the King's Private Secretary, Sir A. F. Lascelles apparently wrote down that there were 16. One theory was that the trip was, in fact, a peace mission to Sweden where discussions would be had with certain factions wishing peace with Germany, and that Swedish banknotes were found on board, although after the fireball that engulfed the plane, that seems unlikely. There is also a story by one of the RAF servicemen sent out to retrieve the bodies from the wreck, that there was a woman on board and that he found her body, female clothes and her jewel case. His sergeant apparently told him never to speak of what he had seen.
The sole survivor who was the tail gunner and who only survived as his turret broke away from the plane, was burnt on his hands and face. He wandered around for about 24 hours before either finding a cottage, or being found. It is said that he was visited in hospital by two senior RAF Officers and was made to sign the Official Secrets Act, which may be true, as he refused to speak of the accident for almost the rest of his life, other than a very short statement to the enquiry, which left a lot unsaid. He did say that he thought the pilot should have had no blame attached to him and was unfairly treated. After his death it was said that he told his family that there was an extra person on the plane who was never accounted for, but not whether they were male or female.
Another theory is that the 16th person was Rudolf Hess, going on the peace mission and that the person who died in Spandau prison was, in fact, a double. The RAMC Doctor who looked after him in Spandau has always stated that he wasn't Rudolf Hess.
A couple of other anomalies that are on the internet are that King George VI visited the site of his brother's death and commented on the large area of charred ground. But in another researcher's story in the Daily Mail in 1921, he said that when the King visited, the area had been turfed and the heather replanted and that he had found that this had never happened after any other crash. In one account, it is said that the plane was loaded with 2000lb of depth charges, in case they spotted a submarine, as it was commonplace for Sunderland flying boats to do convoy escort duty to keep German U-boats submerged by depth charging them to let the convoy get away. It was also stated that these were exploded at the site of the crash without warning and the local village was shocked. Not being an export on explosives I cannot comment, except to say that I would have thought the depth charges would not have survived a crash and a fireball intact. However, we have seen a black and white photo of the wreckage and there was quite an amount of it and it didn't look burnt.
Two weeks later, on the 5th of September, 1942 Sunderland W4032 took off from Oban on a convoy protection mission. Onboard were 10 crew and a journalist, Fred NanCarrow, from the Glasgow Herald. Much has been made of NanCarrow’s presence and some say he was investigating the death of the Duke of Kent. To cut a long story short, the Sunderland ran out of fuel and the pilot decided to ditch in Vane Bay, where it hit a rock and started sinking. Fred Nancarrow's body wwas never found, although there were a couple of survivors found alive. It seems rather strange that a war correspondent who wished to investigate the death of Prince George, would go out on convoy escort duty, rather than travelling to Dunbeath by other means.
There are just too many inconsistencies around this crash that it is no wonder there is a book being written and conspiracy theories abound.
Eva Sawyer was born Eveline Mysie Sawyer to Lt. Colonel and Mrs. W. H. Sawyer in Burnham, Buckinghamshire on 30th April 1885, one of three children. We understand from a newspaper article that she studied art in Brussels prior to WWI. However, we found a portrait which appeared in a magazine by her dated 1912, and another dated 1913. After this time her portraits of fashionable and aristocratic ladies appeared regularly on the pages of The Sketch, Tatler and The Bystander.
In 1919, she married Captain Eric C. Palmer MC, whose family owned the shipyard in Jarrow, but continued to work under her maiden name of Eva Sawyer. She and her husband spent two years in Budapest, where she produced pastel portraits of famous stage artists, as well as society portraits. She had an exhibition of her portraits at the Claridge Gallery in 1927, shortly after her return from Hungary and another at Coolings Gallery in 1936. She had a studio in Chelsea.
In the 1939 Register, she and her husband were living at 31a Brompton Square in London and she is listed as being of private means. He was listed as an electro-chemical engineer.
As very few of her many works come to the market, one can only assume that, as most of her subjects were from the aristocracy, they are still in private hands. Eva Sawyer died on the 23rd August, 1978.
The picture is newly framed in a very nice antique swept gilt frame and is newly double mounted in two-tone acid-free mountboard to complement. It will be supplied with new brass hangers, new brass picture wire and will be ready to hang.
Image size: 19 x 13 1/2 inches - 48.25cm x 34.25cm
Frame size: 23 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches - 50.35cm x 45.1cm
Medium: Pastels on paper
Condition: Very good. There are no losses or foxing. The frame is in very good condition, and the mounts are new.
Price
Click here to message the seller The price has been listed in British Pounds.
Conversion rates as of 12/DEC/2024. Euro & Dollar prices will vary and should only be used as a guide.
Always confirm final price with dealer. Plus shipping cost. Please provide postcode for an at cost quote.
Category Antique Pictures / Engravings / Art
Date 1921
1920s Antiques Material Paper
Origin English
Item code as237a2413
Status For Sale
£285.00 
$361.67
€345.31
$361.67
€345.31
Looking to Buy?
Arrange a final price and delivery details directly with the dealerClick here to message the seller
Conversion rates as of 12/DEC/2024. Euro & Dollar prices will vary and should only be used as a guide.
Always confirm final price with dealer. Plus shipping cost. Please provide postcode for an at cost quote.
View all stock from
Studio RT Ltd
Private Art dealerBy appointment only
Kent
England, UK
Tel : 01622 812556
Non UK callers : +44 1622 812556
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