Paul Cranfield Smyth

Infobox Person
name = Paul Cranfield Smyth


image_size = 150px
caption =
birth_date = April, 1888
birth_place = Highgate, England, UK
death_date = March , 1963
death_place = Bournemouth, England, UK

Paul Cranfield Smyth was the founder of the Finchley Arts Society and a prolific artist. His subjects include war time scenes from Gibraltar, Egypt and Netley Hospital. He also painted Canvey Island, North London, Oxford and other locations.

Early life

Born in Highgate, London in April 1883. His father (George) was the headmaster of St. Anne’s Brookfield School.

He worked a probationary teacher at St. Anne’s School (1896). In 1901 received the Pupil Teacher's Bishops of London Prize for Religious Knowledge. He later worked at St. Mark’s College, Chelsea (1902) and Holy Trinity Boys School, Sloane Square (1904). At this time he was a member of the Hampstead Sketch Club.

In 1913, he received the honour of having his painting – 'The Ferry Boat' of Holywell in Cambridgeshire being displayed in the Royal Academy.

World War I

Paul Smyth joined the 2/7th Middlesex Regiment in July 1914 and later (January 1915) was stationed at Gibraltar and Cairo (August 1915). In 1916, he returned to England and was then stationed in France as a second lieutenant (19 Manchester Regiment). Seriously wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele, he spent the next 9 months recovering at Netley Hospital, Hampshire, England.

Post-War

Paul Smyth married Elsie Mulley on 20 July 1918. They met on Canvey Island (one of his major subjects) and lived in Highgate, London. Smyth began to hold numerous painting exhibitions.

At the beginning of World War II he was a headmaster (Wormholt Park LCC Senior Boys School) and was evacuated to Oxford with 500 children. He painted extensively in the city and held an exhibition of his work in 1941.

Post-war he founded the Finchley Arts Society in 1949 and was the first president of the Society. He died aged 80 in Bournemouth in March 1963.

External links

* [http://www.finchleygallery.com Paul Smyth's Paintings]