William Dring (1904-90) earned his reputation as a fine draughtsman and portrait painter whilst studying under Henry Tonks at the Slade School of Art between 1922 and 1925. He worked as a teacher of drawing and painting at the Southampton School of Art until 1940 when he was employed by the War Artist Advisory Committee, first as official war artist to the Admiralty and later to the Air Ministry. He made a large number of portrait drawings of individuals and groups, all remarkable for their informality. Dring travelled extensively to complete his commissions. The drawing is always precise and carefully modelled using pastel, a medium in which he specialised, and which allowed him to capture the likeness and spirit of his subjects quickly and under a variety of circumstances.

Educated first at Pangbourne Nautical College, Philip Raymond Charles Evans (1917-84) joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a Temporary Surgeon-Lieutenant in 1942, having newly qualified in medicine from Guy’s Hospital. He was serving on board HMS ‘Wivern’ when the ship ran into trouble. HMS ‘Wivern’ had come to the aid of the Canadian vessel HMCS ‘Weyburn’, which had hit a mine whilst refuelling in Gibraltar. The ‘Weyburn’ sank and two of her depth charges detonated, severely damaging ‘Wivern’ at the same time. Despite being badly wounded, having broken both of his ankles, Evans continued to help the other injured men for several hours. He was awarded the George Medal (not the George Cross or GC, as written by Dring below the pastel’s mount) for this act of courage and devotion to duty.

Sadly the repercussions from his severe injuries affected Evans for the rest of his life. He developed a chronic and recurrent infection in his ankle’s bone, and was forced to leave naval service. The infection plagued him for several years and he eventually had to have one leg amputated below the knee. Whilst he did not often complain about his injuries, his close friends knew him to suffer from periods of depression.

His obituary published in the ‘Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians’ (volume VIII, page 145), states that he was a kindly and intelligent man, much loved by those who knew him, qualities well-suited to the role of a physician. Evans had a successful medical career after the war. In 1947 he began to work for the Wrexham Group of Hospitals, where he remained until his retirement in 1979.