page_title: Simon Elwes
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Simon Elwes / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Lieutenant General R G W H Stone Cb, Dso, Mc, Frgs image: A three-quarter length portrait of Stone, seated and wearing uniform.
context_page_description: Lt. Col. Simon Edmund Vincent Paul Elwes, RP, RA, KM was a British war artist and society portrait painter whose patrons included presidents, kings, queens, statesmen, sportsmen, prominent social figures and many members of the British Royal Family. He was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
context_section_description: At the outbreak of the Second World War, Elwes initially joined the Welsh Guards. He was later transferred to the 10th Royal Hussars and was stationed in North Africa and Egypt serving as a lieutenant colonel. After fighting in the battles of Benghazi, Mersa Matruh and Knightsbridge, he was made an official war artist by the local Army command. His role as a war artist was recognized when the War Artists' Advisory Committee purchased several of his works. Whilst stationed in Cairo in 1942 he painted portraits of King Farouk, his wife Queen Farida, their daughter Princess Ferial, and General (later Field Marshal) Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, General Officer Commanding (GOC) British Troops in Egypt. In South Africa, he painted the portraits of Paul I of the Hellenes, his wife Frederica of Hanover as well as Prime Minister J. C. Smuts and his wife. He painted two other Field Marshals: Sir Claude Auchinleck and in India, Viceroy Archibald Wavell. While there he did portraits of the Maharaja of Patiala, Lord Mountbatten, and various Indian Army soldiers who had won the Victoria Cross, namely Naik Nand Singh, 11th Sikh Regiment; Havildar Gaje Ghale, 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles; Company Havildar Major Chellu Ram, 4/6 Rajputana Rifles; Major Premindra Singh Bhagat, 21st Bombay Sappers and Havildar Parkash Singh, 8th Punjab Regiment. In Delhi, Elwes also gave art lessons sponsored by Lady Wavell (wife of the Viceroy) at the Viceregal Palace. Other instructors included American war artist Millard Sheets.
caption: Lieutenant General R G W H Stone CB, DSO, MC, FRGS (1942) by Simon Elwes
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