Lieutenant The Hon. G.W. Esmond Elliot, youngest son of the 4th Earl of Minto, Viceroy of India, died in hospital in Belgium on 6th August 1917 from injuries sustained while commanding his company at Passchendaele. He was 22.
A fellow Officer Lt. Ewart wrote:
“Poor Esmond Elliot was shot through the body and arm a few yards from me and his orderly killed outright. He was conscious to the last and did not realise he was dying although he was in great pain”
At the time, Elliot was in command of G Company of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards. He is buried in Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium and his original grave marker can be found in Minto Church. He had been educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. On the outbreak of War he joined the Lothians and Border Horse and became A.D.C. to General Fielding before transferring to the Scots Guards in August 1916.
Devastated by the loss, his mother, Mary, commissioned the sculptor Thomas Clapperton in 1921 to create a bronze bust of her son. However, it never reached the family. Many years later it turned up in an antiques shop in the Lake District where it was bought for £60 by Robert Rider, a lecturer in education at Goldsmiths, University of London. After 40 years of rigorous research Rider identified the bust as Elliot and, after almost a century, the bust eventually reached its rightful owners.
Artist’s Response
My story concerned a young aristocrate Esmond Elliot, who died aged 22 in the Third Battle of Ypres. Devastated by the fact, his mother commissioned a statue made of bronze to celebrate his memory. The statue didn’t arrive to the family until 50 years later when it was found in an antique shop and bought by Robert Rider, a lecturer from London, for £60.
I was deeply moved by the story as I am a mother myself and after I found a photo of Esmond aged about five years old, I could not resist portraying him in my work, not only as a war hero but also as a son. This is why those two figures blend in together to create the whole in my work.
Emma Smieszek
City of Glasgow College
Emma is from Poland and has been living in Scotland for 7 years, and considers it to be her home. She has always wanted her future, to be connected with a wide understanding of arts, not only as a hobby but also professionally.
Emma is a professional tattoo artist and sees herself as a creative lifelong learner so for almost a year she has been studying Creative Printmaking and is absolutely in love with gaining new skills and searching for new possibilities. When Emma first heard about working in Glasgow Print Studio she thought it is a great opportunity to connect to the printers’ community and greatly enjoys spending time in places where creative souls can portray their visions.
Emma was hit by the laid back atmosphere contrasting with striking professionalism and knowledge of the team members. Around the time when the project took place Emma was doing a lot of research on impressionism and decided she wanted the chisel strokes to show resemblance to the impressionist style.
