GEORGE SPENCER WATSON, R.A., R.W.S., R.O.I. (BRITISH, 1869-1934)

One of the first soldiers sent to the Western Front in August 1914, William Gilbert Houldsworth enlisted in the Scots Guards shortly after coming down from Oxford. Tragically he was amongst the earliest victims of the fighting, dying at the age of 23 on 23 September 1914 in France. His mother commissioned a posthumous portrait from Spencer Watson in 1924 in memory of her only son, with Houldsworth's cousin standing in as the model.