Stokers Mess 85, 1942 (paper, pastel)

Creator: William Dennis Dring In 1940 when Dring 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. Dring created this vivid portrait on a visit to Londonderry in May or June 1943, as part of a series of portraits of naval captains. The pastel depicts the stokers mess of the great battleship HMS ‘King George V’. The figures in this image as stokers L. Pedder, F. Wright, and Leading Stoker E. Daniels. The stokers were responsible for feeding the boilers in the engines of the ship, a tough and physically demanding job. Here though, Dring has represented the stokers in a well-earned moment of rest, writing letters home or reading.