Reproduction
Object numberRCSSC/P 569.52
CollectionSpecial collections
CategoryVisual works
Object nameReconstructive Surgical Procedures, Wounds, Gunshot, Portraits, Clinical subjects (visual works), Pastels (visual works)
DescriptionPortrait of Private Walter Ashworth by Henry Tonks, 1916-1917.
This is part of a series of portraits made by Henry Tonks (1862-1937) showing patients treated by Harold Gillies and colleagues at Queen's Hospital, Sidcup, during and after the First World War. Walter Ashworth 23 years old and was a Private in C Company, the 18th West Yorkshire Regiment. He was wounded in fighting in France on 1 July 1916. He underwent two operations by Harold Gillies and a further operation by Evelyn Sprawson and JL Aymard. He was discharged in September 1917. This portrait probably shows Ashworth during the latter part of his treatment.
Private Walter Ashworth, of the 18th West Yorkshire Regiment (the ‘Bradford Pals’), was injured on 1 July 1916, aged 23, during the Battle of the Somme. Ashworth sustained a gunshot wound to his mouth and a fractured mandible (lower jawbone). He was admitted to the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot, on 5 July 1916 and underwent three operations, two performed by Harold Gillies and the last performed by J L Aymard and Francis Sprawson. Ashworth’s treatment included a bar fixed to a headcap to stabilise his mandible while it healed. Ashworth was said to be satisfied by the operation; Gillies noted he was left with ‘a whimsical, one-sided expression which, however, was not entirely unpleasant’. Following his final operation, Ashworth was fitted with upper and lower dentures, allowing him to eat (if only soft food). Ashworth left the hospital on 26 September 1917 and discharged from the army as unfit for further service. After the war, he returned to work as a tailor but he faced prejudice because of his disfigurement and was demoted to working at the back of the shop rather than with customers. Furthermore, his fiancée left him; but he married her best friend and emigrated to Australia, returning to the UK in the 1950s to work as a tailor in Blackpool.
Production date 1917
Artist
Tonks, Henry, 1862-1937, artist, Sidcup
Sitter/subject
Surgeon/clinician
Associated institution
transferred
War Office (1921)
Physical Location
LocationNot on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Physical Information
Physical descriptionPastels on paper, 27.9cm by 21.4cm. Mounted in set of four with P 569.49, 50 and 51. Frame dimensions: 890mm height by 680mm width by 20mm depth.
Dimensions
paper height: 279 mm
paper width: 214 mm
paper width: 214 mm
Bibliography
SourceBennett 1986
NotesThe article contains a biographical account of Tonks and a description of his work with Harold Gillies, and colour reproductions of all of the drawings in this series.
SourceChambers 2002
42-43
SourceHelmers 2010
192-193
