SIR OSWALD BIRLEY, A RARE, LIMITED EDITION, AUTOGRAPHED PRINT OF HIS CELEBRATED PORTRAIT OF FIELD MARSHAL LORD HENRY WILSON, WITH DATED PRESENTATION INSCRIPTION "TO ANTHONY MAUDE FROM OSWALD BIRLEY 1931".
Field Marshal Lord Henry Wilson, sepia photogravure limited edition print on India paper of Oswald Birley's portrait of Field Marshal Wilson, by Laib of London, in a new ebonised, gilt lined, glazed frame, with gilt lined card mount, 20.5 inches x 17 inches (52.5cm x 43cm) vertical approx.
Some minor scuffing to frame, otherwise good condition, the image and presentation inscription both crisp and clear.
Portrait accompanied by 9 pages of service papers and documents from Oswald Birley's Officer's Service Papers file.
Captain Sir Oswald Hornby Joseph Birley (1880-1952) was born in Auckland, New Zealand. Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, he initially saw service during the First World War as a Private in the Royal Fusiliers, enlisting into the 10th (Stockbrokers) Battalion Royal Fusiliers in London shortly after the outbreak of WW1 on 29/8/1914. At the time of enlistment Birley stated that he was 28 years of age, an artist by trade, and confirmed that he had been born in Auckland, New Zealand. The 10th Battalion did not see active service until September 1915, by which time Birley had already been discharged from the 10th Battalion, on 24/11/1914, and commissioned 2nd Lieutenant 10th (B) Battalion (Intelligence Corps) Royal Fusiliers on the same day (24/11/1914). He was promoted Lieutenant, 26/4/1915 and Captain, 20/3/1916.
Birley saw active service during WW1 with the 10th (B) Battalion (Intelligence Corps) Royal Fusiliers, initially on probation from 18/2/1917, and as 3rd Class Agent from 24/3/1917 and 2nd Class Agent from 19/2/1918. Birley was demobilised and ceased to be employed by the Intelligence Corps on 24/3/1919. For his services during the First World War, Oswald Birley was awarded the Military Cross.
The 10th(B) Battalion Royal Fusiliers had no connection with, and was entirely distinct from, the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, and was in fact a secret "phantom" battalion attached to the intelligence corps, consisting of intelligence agents recruited to work behind the British lines searching out enemy spies and taking part in a wide variety of intelligence operations. The original nucleus of the battalion was provided by a small body of men from Scotland Yard, especially selected for their knowledge of France and Germany. In France they detected German agents. Working generally in civilian clothes, the nucleus eventually expanded into a large body of officers and men recruited from various backgrounds and military units, recruits often being selected for their knowledge of languages, Birley no doubt being commissioned into the battalion because he was a fluent French speaker. The 10th(B) Battalion Royal Fusiliers eventually saw service in many other theatres of war, including Italy, Salonika, the Middle East and Russia (for further details see H. O'Neill's "The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War", William Heineman, London 1922).
The following brief account of the 10th (B) Battalion Royal Fusiliers has been taken from Wikipedia.
Prior to World War 1 the Directorate of Military Intelligence at the War Office had identified a number of officers and civilians whose skills could be used in the event of war, and this scratch Intelligence Corps went to France with the BEF in August 1914. These officers’ batmen, and later the policemen recruited for field security duties, were enlisted into the Royal Fusiliers under the cover designation of ‘10th Battalion, Intelligence B’ – not to be confused with the 10th (Stockbrokers’) Battalion, though the varied personnel of the 'Stockbrokers' did provide it with at least one intelligence officer. As the war progressed, more and more men were recruited for their language skills, ranging from idle rich travellers to a showman who trained Russian bears and an Anglo-Armenian Sergeant born in France and educated in Czechoslovakia. The 10th RF (B) specialised in plainclothes security and counter-espionage work and operated in France, Italy, Salonika, the Middle East and Russia
Given that Oswald Birley saw service with the 10th (Stockbrokers) Battalion Royal Fusiliers prior to seeing service with the 10th (B) Battalion, it would seem likely that Birley was the sole member of the 10th Royal Fusiliers referred to in the Wikipedia article who transferred from the 10th (Stockbrokers) Battalion to the 10th(B) Battalion (Intelligence Corps).
Sir Oswald Birley, Anthony Maude and Field Marshal Wilson had a shared interest in and connections to Ireland, Oswald Birley marrying, in 1921, Rhoda Vava Mary, daughter of Robert Leckey Pike, DL, of Kilnock, Tullow, county Carlow.
Captain Anthony Fritz Maude (1862-1935) of Belgard Castle, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin, was a close personal friend of the artist, Sir Oswald Birley. The son of Maurice Ceely Maude, of Lenaghen Park, Enniskillen, county Fermanagh, Ireland, he was a grandson of Cornwallis,1st Viscount Harwarden of Hawarden, county Tipperary. Maude was appointed Captain, 17th July 1903, in the newly raised North Irish Horse and had a shared interest with Birley in the Royal Fusiliers, his eldest son, Lieutenant Marcus Beresford Maude MC, seeing service with the Royal Fusiliers during the Great War. Captain Maude was a lifelong member of the Royal Dublin Society. After his death his wife and son presented a cup and sufficient funds for an annual competition, the cup a prize money being presented in Captain Maude's memory "The Captain Anthony Maude Perpetual Challenge Cup", for the champion three year old thoroughbred or halfbred horse. That cup is still competed for each year at the Royal Dublin Society Horse Show.
Field-Marshall Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, 1st Baronet (created 1919), GCB, DSO, Rifle Brigade, Chief of the Imperial General Staff and a Member of the War Cabinet from 1918. Born 5th May 1864, he was the son of James Wilson, DL, JP, of Currygrane, Edgeworthstown, Ireland, and married, 1891, Cecil Mary, youngest daughter of George Cecil Gore Wray, JP, of Ardnamona, county Donegal. Educated at Marlborough College, he entered the Royal Irish Regiment in 1884, transferring to the Rifle Brigade later that same year. He saw service during the Burma campaigns of 1885-87 (wounded) and 1887-89 (awarded India General Service Medal 1854 with 2 clasps). Subsequently he entered and graduated from the Staff College, 1892-94; and was a Staff Captain, Intelligence Division, 1894-97; Brigade Major, 2nd Brigade, Aldershot, 1897-99; Brigade-Major, Light Brigade, South Africa, 1899-1900; Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General, Army Headquarters, South Africa, 1900-01 (awarded Distinguished Service Order, mentioned in dispatches four times, awarded Queen's South Africa Medal with 5 clasps and granted Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel on promotion to Major); commanded 9th Provisional Battalion 1902-03; Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General Army Headquarters 1903; Assistant Adjutant-General Army Headquarters, 1903-06; Assistant Director Staff Duties, War Office, 1904-06; Commandant, Staff College, 1907-10; Director of Military Operations at Army Headquarters, 1910-14; saw extensive service during the First World War, being Assistant Chief of General Staff to Lord French, 1914 (promoted Lieutenant-General, appointed KCB 1915); subsequently a Corps Commander, liaison officer with the French, Commander of the Eastern District, British Military Representative at Versailles, 1917. After retiring from the army, Field Marshal Wilson served briefly as a member of parliament and was murdered by the IRA on 22nd June 1922.
Sir Oswald Birley's portrait of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, which is regarded as one of the best portraits Birley ever painted, currently hangs in the Staff College at Camberley. A portrait painter of some note, Birley also painted portraits of King George V and Queen Mary for Windsor Castle, George VI for the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and Queen Elizabeth II, along with several highly regarded portraits of Sir Winston Churchill and a life-size portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. .
