
A British Red Cross Society and Order of St John of Jerusalem Stretcher-Bearer 1918–1919
Haydn Reynolds Mackey (1881–1979)
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Painter, illustrator, printmaker and teacher, born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and Langham School of Art. At outbreak of World War I was offered commission as a war artist, but declined because of his pacifist views. However, after a period as a stretcher-bearer he accepted the commission, and examples of his work are in the Imperial War Museum. He travelled widely and was a close friend of many well-known artists and literary figures, such as Sir Frank Brangwyn, Austin Osman Spare, Dylan Thomas and G K Chesterton. Exhibited RA, RHA, ROI, in the provinces and at Paris Salon, where he won a gold medal in 1973 for Susannah and the Elders, a silver medal following two years later for The Jazz Drummer, a picture which shows Mackey’s liking for strong design, picaresque and slightly bizarre subjects.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)