Bertram Stanley Prance (5 December 1889 – 9 August 1958) was a British artist, poster artist and illustrator who worked as a cartoonist for '' Punch'' magazine among others.

Early life

Prance was born in Bideford in Devon in 1889, one of five children of Deera Lock ''née'' Hollway (1861–1952) and Captain Fredrick William Prance (1859–1939) who was the owner and skipper of the fishing trawler 'Deera' (named after his wife), which operated out of the quayside in Bideford. Prance attended Bideford Art School and was a subscriber to the Press Art School, a correspondence course for drawing founded by Percy Bradshaw. The

1911 Census The United Kingdom Census 1911 of 2 April 1911 was the 12th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The total population of the United Kingdom was approximately 45,221,000, with 36,070,000 recorded in England ...

for Bideford lists Prance at the family home at 66 High Street with an occupation of Art Pupil Teacher employed by Bideford Council. In 1915 in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

he married Kate 'Kitty' Lily Macfarlane (1895-1979) from

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

and with her had two children: Barbara Valerie Prance (1920–1982) and Christopher Paul MacFarlane Prance (1927–). From 1917 during World War I Prance served in the Royal Air Force.

Artistic career

Between the wars his works were published in such periodicals as ''The Humorist'', '' London Opinion'', '' Punch'' and '' Tatler''. During this period he was in demand as a book illustrator, working for Anthony Armstrong and on the books of his friend

B.C. Hilliam BC most often refers to: * Before Christ, a calendar era based on the traditionally reckoned year of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth * British Columbia, the westernmost province of Canada * Baja California, a state of Mexico BC may also refer to: ...

of the singing-duo Mr. Flotsam and Mr. Jetsam. In 1934 he exhibited a painting at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

Summer Exhibition. Shown is Prance’s original design and the printed cover for ''Village at War'' (1941) to a text by Armstrong which shows how the book cover differed from the original artwork. The book was a humorous fictional account of village life during World War II. After the War Prance illustrated the '' Lone Pine'' series of books for children by Malcolm Saville. He was a member of the Savage Club and was an active member of the London Sketch Club, being elected President of the latter in 1948. After leaving Bideford Prance lived most of his life up to 1940 in the village of Rudgwick in West Sussex where he built a large house he named 'Chudleigh' after the area in his native Bideford. Fellow artist

W. Heath Robinson William Heath Robinson (31 May 1872 – 13 September 1944) was an English cartoonist, illustrator and artist, best known for drawings of whimsically elaborate machines to achieve simple objectives. In the UK, the term "Heath Robinson contr ...

lived nearby and he and Prance became friends. In 1940 'Chudleigh' was requisitioned by the British Army and Prance returned to Bideford for the duration of the War. The Army altered the property so much that after the War Prance was too upset to return and it was sold. After briefly living in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

in 1952 he bought West Campfield Place on Leith Hill in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and here he established a new family home. Like other artists, Prance's output during and after the War declined and he turned to painting; working in gouache and oils he painted the countryside, skies, coasts and seashores which he had loved in his youth in Devon.Bertram Prance (1889-1958) - The Prance Family website
/ref>

Legacy

Prance was a supporter of the Burton Art Gallery which was founded in Bideford in 1951. In 1998 the Gallery held a retrospective exhibition of Prance's work arranged by his son Christopher, who was living in the town. A further exhibition of his works was held at the 'Burton' in 2016 to mark the purchase of three of Prance's original illustrations. The 'Burton' holds a number of his drawings and paintings in its permanent collection. Bertram Stanley Prance died in Surrey in 1958 and left £6,452 15s 4d in his will to his widow and children.England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Bertram Stanley Prance (1958)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prance, Bertram 1889 births 1958 deaths Artists from Bideford English male painters Royal Air Force personnel of World War I 20th-century English painters English illustrators English cartoonists British genre painters Punch (magazine) cartoonists People from Rudgwick 20th-century English male artists