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  #1  
Old 21-11-21, 06:06 AM
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slick_mick slick_mick is offline
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Default Stoked with this buy! FEPOW Artwork with a family connection.

Hey Guys,

It's been a great week for me!

I was able to buy these 3 portraits via a seller on UK ebay.

Here's the awesome part: my grandfather drew them in Stanley Camp, Hong Kong during WW2 when he was an internee/POW of the Japanese there. He was a member of the Hong Kong Police.

I'm super stoked with being able to buy these.

The guy is Stewart 'Tootie' Begg of the HKVDC. His wife was one of the nurses who was killed when the Japanese rampaged with bayonets through St Stephens College and killed the wounded and medical staff.

He met Joan Armstrong (the lady in the other portraits) in Stanley Camp and they later got married. After liberation there was an awkward moment when Tootie's ex wife's family met them when they arrived by ship in the UK.

My grandfather did about 200 of these portraits and other drawings in Stanley Camp. He was only able to do them as the Japanese commandant found out he was an artist and dispatched a squad of soldiers to get his art suppliers from him mother-in-law (my great grandmother) who was a single Russian lady living in HK (being Russian she wasn't interned yet my grandparents decided to become naturalised British).

Most of the drawings end up being repatriated back to the UK or Europe with their subjects (he didn't bring back any himself as he did them all for other people) so I am super excited to have these examples of his wartime art.

Mick
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Stewart Duncan ‘Tootie’ Begg.jpg (60.6 KB, 77 views)
File Type: jpg Joan Armstrong-later-Begg.jpg (62.8 KB, 73 views)
File Type: jpg Joan Armstrong-later-Begg1.jpg (70.5 KB, 66 views)
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  #2  
Old 21-11-21, 07:14 AM
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Good job, congrats!
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  #3  
Old 21-11-21, 07:24 AM
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Outstanding !!
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Old 21-11-21, 08:07 AM
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Well Done Mick.
Phil.
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  #5  
Old 21-11-21, 08:11 AM
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Thanks guys!
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  #6  
Old 21-11-21, 05:10 PM
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That must be the most awesome account I’ve read of items “finding “ their way back home! I can’t imagine your heart thumping elation when you received them. Fate was smiling on you Mick. Best regards and congratulations. David J.
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  #7  
Old 21-11-21, 05:30 PM
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Excellent, and very happy for you!

I can fully appreciate what it means to you. My father used to paint the backs of A2 leather flying jackets and I only learned about it when a fellow pilot told he that he'd just sold his that my dad had painted! I would have given, and still would just about anything to have gotten it - but such is life!

Terry
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  #8  
Old 21-11-21, 05:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Home Guard View Post
Excellent, and very happy for you!

I can fully appreciate what it means to you. My father used to paint the backs of A2 leather flying jackets and I only learned about it when a fellow pilot told he that he'd just sold his that my dad had painted! I would have given, and still would just about anything to have gotten it - but such is life!

Terry
Oh, what a completely opposite feeling “Gut Wrenching” I guess, than “Mick’s feelings. Very hard to accept your bad luck Terry. Regards, D.J.
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  #9  
Old 21-11-21, 06:33 PM
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Thanks again guys.

I have artwork of his at home but none that was done during the war.

Here's an article about my grandfather:

https://gwulo.com/node/12001

His service as a teenage midshipman in the Russian Navy during the civil war is also quite amazing. There is a book being written about him (and my family) in Russia and also plans for a movie documentary about his Russian Navy service.

Mick
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Old 21-11-21, 08:32 PM
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They are quality.
Andy
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  #11  
Old 21-11-21, 08:42 PM
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Wow.

What a fabulous story of re-uniting family history many years from inception to present.

A great find that that I've no doubt will remain with the family for generations yet to come.

Regards.
Brian.
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  #12  
Old 21-11-21, 08:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fatherofthree View Post
Wow.

What a fabulous story of re-uniting family history many years from inception to present.

A great find that that I've no doubt will remain with the family for generations yet to come.

Regards.
Brian.
Thats the plan. I will keep one and give the others to my brother and my cousin.

Mick
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