Gilbert Ledward (1888-1960)

Sculptor, born in Chelsea, London the son of a sculptor Richard Arthur Ledward. He was a student at the Chelsea Polytechnic, at the Academy in Karlsruhe, the Royal College of Art and the Royal Academy Schools 1907-13. The first artist to win a scholarship in sculpture to the British School at Rome, and a soldier in World War I, he was after the cessation of hostilities much sought after to execute monumental war memorials. However during his Rome stay the outbreak of war brought Ledward's travels to an end, but 1917 found him back in Italy, on the front, serving as a lieutenant with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was called home in April 1918 and seconded to the Ministry of Information as an Official War Artist. In this capacity, he produced plaster reliefs for the Imperial War Museum which are typical of the dramatic compositions of soldiers in action surrounded by the accoutrements of battle that were developed in later memorial pro