17 Facts About Ernest Townsend

Ernest Townsend was a British portraitist from Derby.

Ernest Townsend was commissioned to create a design for the roofs of the Rolls-Royce aircraft engine factories in Derby so that they would appear to German bombers to be no more than a village.

Ernest Townsend was born in Parliament Street in Derby, the eighth child of James Townsend.

Ernest Townsend's father was a coach builder with Holmes of Derby.

Coach building had been the Ernest Townsend profession practised for at least three generations.

However, by the age of five, Ernest Townsend's caregiver was his elder sister, Florence.

Ernest's brother William George Paulson Townsend was a major influence on Ernest's early artistic interests.

Ernest Townsend then moved to a five-year course at the Royal Academy Schools.

Ernest Townsend was enrolled as a student in the School of Painting at the Royal Academy from 28 January until January 1907.

Ernest Townsend exhibited 15 paintings at the academy between 1910 and 1937, as shown below.

Ernest Townsend supplemented his income with design work for these magazines, in particular for The Art Workers' Quarterly, of which his brother was founder and editor.

Ernest Townsend's work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics.

Ernest Townsend was to remain a member of the club for the rest of his life and he found a patron in Alfred E Goodey via the club.

The friendship led to Ernest Townsend being invited to the Campbells' home on Havelock Road in Derby, which was then almost in the country.

Ernest Townsend married Doris Campbell on 30 December 1912 at St James' Church in Clapham.

When Ernest Townsend died in 1944, some said it was due to overwork.

Ernest Townsend had been busy during the war creating designs that could be used to camouflage Rolls-Royce's aircraft engine factories in Derby.