Francis Dodd RA, 1874-1949

Francis Edgar Dodd RA was born in Anglesey's Holyhead. He was a portrait painter and printmaker. He studied at Glasgow School of Art under Fra Newbery and Archibald Kay, and in 1893 he was awarded the Haldane Scholarship, which empowered him to travel to France, Italy, and later Spain. When he returned to the UK in 1895, he first settled in Manchester, then in Blackheath, southeast London, where he frequently painted and drew. During WWI, Dodd was appointed as an Official War Artist by Charles Masterman, the head of the War Propaganda Bureau, WPB. During his time on the Western Front, he created over 30 portraits of senior military figures. Hw was a trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1928 to 1935, and was elected RA in 1935. Dodd exhibited extensively at the NEAC, RA, and RWS, among other venues, and his work is held in several British public collections, including the Tate Gallery, as well as in South Africa and Australia.