Eustace Nash: artist who offered a wry comment on First World War

They are from the pen of Eustace Nash, one of Bournemouth’s most talented and influential artists.

Born in Boscombe in 1887 – two years before the unrelated war artist Paul Nash – Eustace P E Nash lived and worked most of his life in the Bournemouth and Poole area.

He was trained by Lister Lobley at the Drummond Road School of Art (later absorbed into the Bournemouth Municipal College), and while he was accomplished in other media, he was well known in Bournemouth for his black and white drawings.

For a number of years he was a cartoonist to the former Bournemouth Graphic, the old Bournemouth newspaper that folded in 1937, where these images were published.

One of them, dated 1914, pokes fun at the Germans with a portrayal of a weak-looking soldier and the words ‘German War Chest’ next to his sunken torso.

Another shows a British soldier in the trenches while a woman stays at home baking, with the message ‘Do Your Bit by Eating Less Bread’.

In 1917, the artist spent ‘a busy hour at Meyrick Park’ in Bournemouth, sketching the baseball match and its spectators.

Three years earlier, a picture entitled ‘Kitchener’s Army’ shows the military leader escorting men away from cricket and women with the words: ‘Play the REAL game my lads! Come and join my company!’ The Russell-Cotes Museum has an extensive collection of Nash’s original Bournemouth Graphic cartoons. They are very detailed and highly observant, depicting local life, politics, fashion and theatre.

For many years Nash worked as a commercial artist and lithographer with his brother Leslie at their studio in Albert Road (above the former Cutler’s Art Gallery).

Later examples of his work include theatre programmes, posters advertising Bournemouth, Kinson Pottery adverts and the Bournemouth Echo’s 1950 Golden Jubilee souvenir brochure.

In his spare time, however, Eustace Nash loved to paint in oil and watercolour.

He was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy and regularly visited other galleries.

As a founder member of the Bournemouth Arts Club, and the Poole and East Dorset Art Society, he held life classes at his studio for many years.

Lifelong friend and fellow artist Leslie Ward said of Nash: “He encouraged beginners by noticing their work where he saw merit and promise.”

After marrying a Winton girl, he went to live in Poole in 1930 where he stayed until his death in 1969.

He was very industrious and would often be seen in the countryside or at Poole Quay drawing and painting in his spare time.

Two years before he died, an illuminated certificate was presented to him by Ward and signed by a few of his friends in the world of art.

It was ‘In honour of the 80th year of his youth... and in recognition of his enthusiasm and loyalty in the cause of art in Bournemouth.’ In 1971 the Christchurch Times wrote of Nash: “The vigour with which E.N. talked about, wrote about and practised art contrasted quaintly with his shortness of stature and his invariable and self-effacing respect and politeness towards everyone showing an inclination to share his enthusiasm.”

His daughter, Myrna Chave, still lives in Poole. The mother-of-two, who taught at Baden Powell and Courthill Schools, told Seven Days: “He did a lot of cartoon work for the local paper, and everything he did from the First World War is now in the safe hands of the Bournemouth Museum.

“My father didn’t do service during the First World War as he wasn’t a very well youngster.

“Neither did his brother who was a conscientious objector. Dad was in the Home Guard during the Second World War, however.”

And above all, she remembers: “He had a willingness to help wherever possible and was a wonderfully kind and caring man.”