George Kruger Gray
George Edward Kruger Gray (25 December 1880 – 2 May 1943) was an English artist, best remembered for his designs of coinage and stained glass windows. Personal life. Kruger was born in 1880 at 126 Kensington Park Road, London, the son of a Jersey merchant, and was christened George Edward Kruger in Kensington. He attended Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby and in July 1893 was dramatically rescued from Crosby Beach by Eyton Owen, a schoolmaster of another school, during a tragic incident in which his older brother and their friend, all day boys at Merchant Taylors', were drowned . He received his tertiary education at the Bath School of Art (today Bath School of Art and Design a department of Bath Spa University). There he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London, from which he graduated with a Diploma in Design in his birth name George Edward Kruger. From 1905 he exhibited water colours at the Royal Academy, specialising in landscapes, flower studies and portraits. During the First World War, Kruger served with the Artists Rifles, and a camouflage unit of the Royal Engineers which specialised in hiding military items and making dummy objects to  confuse enemy forces. In 1918, following his marriage to (Frances) Audrey Gordon Gray, he changed his name to George Kruger Gray. They had a son, Douglas, in October 1920. After the war, he continued his career as an artist. In 1923, he exhibited his numismatic works at the Royal Academy of Arts, winning a considerable reputation in that area, and become a 'preferred contractor' for the Royal Mint, designing coins for Great Britain, as well as other parts of the Empire. In 1938, he became a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) Although best known  for the design of numismatic items, he also designed and made stained glass windows for churches, universities and the like. As well, he illustrated books, and made posters and cartoons. Kruger Gray died in Chichester, West Sussex, on 2 May 1943. He is buried in St Mary Churchyard, Fittleworth, Chichester. Other works. Kruger Gray was a well known artisan of his time, and produced a number of coats of arms, including the version used by The University of Western Australia from 1929 to 1963. He also designed the Flag of the Colony of Aden. He designed what became an important  distinction given to the Royal Naval Patrol Service in the form of an exclusive silver badge. Officers and men of the Patrol Service were awarded this badge after a total of six months service at sea. It could also be awarded beforehand to those showing worthy conduct while engaged in action. Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, 1939 wrote in the following minute: FIRST LORD to FORTH SEA LORD I am told that the Minesweepers men have no badge. If this is so it must be remedied at once. I am asking Mr. Bracken to call for designs from  Sir Kenneth Clark within one week, after which production must begin with the greatest speed, and distribution as the deliveries come to hand. The design of the badge measured roughly the size of an old shilling. The design had to symbolise the work of both the minesweeping and the anti-submarine personnel. The finished design took the form of a shield upon which a sinking shark, speared by a marline spike, was set against a background made up of a fishing net with two trapped enemy mines. This was flanked by two examples of the nautical knot and at the  top the naval crown. Beneath the badge was a scroll bearing the letters M/S-A/S (Minesweeping Anti-Submarine). The shark symbolised a U-boat and the marline spike the tool of the Merchant navy. The net and the mines were both symbols of the fishermen who now found themselves at war seeking a new deadly catch. Never before had one section of the Royal Navy been similarly honoured. His design for an insignia to denote the award of a "King's Commendation for Brave Conduct" was accepted and used for a period from 1943. George Kruger Gray George