A particularly attractive and poignant Memorial Artwork to commemorate Second Lieutenant A....

A particularly attractive and poignant Memorial Artwork to commemorate Second Lieutenant A. C. Hopwood, Royal Engineers, late London Regiment, hand drawn and illuminated by his father, Mr. E. A. Hopwood, a talented draughtsman and keen follower of the Art Nouveau school of design ‘1914-1919. In Memoriam Alan Clement Hopwood. Sec. Lieut. R.E.’, pen and ink with watercolour and gilt enhancement, signed and dated ‘E. A. Hopwood. 1923.’, to lower right-hand corner, approx. 33cm x 42cm, glazed and gilt framed, in good condition, colours vibrant £120-£160 --- Alan Clement Hopwood was born in Camberwell on 2 February 1899, the younger son of Ernest A. Hopwood. Educated at St. Margaret’s School and Hulme Grammar School from September 1911 to June 1916, he was severely wounded by shellfire on 14 September 1918 whilst attempting to construct a 300-foot long vehicle ramp down the face of a retaining wall of the canal du Nord at Ruyaulcourt; the attack mirrored a series of retaliatory bombardments up and down the length of the canal, focussing heavily upon strategic positions such as canal crossings which would slow the Allied Advance. The Hulmean of December 1918 adds a little more information: ‘He will be well remembered by many boys still in the School, in which he took a high place in his forms, captained the second football and cricket elevens, and was honorary secretary of the Scientific Society. He took a great interest in railways, and had begun his engineering studies at the School of Technology when he obtained a commission from the University O.T.C., in the Royal Engineers. His O.C. wrote to his father: “If it is any comfort to you to know that he was a soldier, then I can assure you that he was through and through. He died like a soldier, uncomplaining.’ Equally as poignant as the artwork, Hopwood’s gravestone bears the inscription: “Peace, Peace! He is not dead!”, by the Englishman and romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, the remaining verse adding: “he doth sleep. He hath awakened from the dream of life... Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep with phantoms an unprofitable strife.”’