The Battle of Jutland was the only full scale sea battle during the First World War and brothers Archibald and Robert Dickson were both involved.
Archie was the younger and entered the Royal Naval College, Isle of Wight, as a naval cadet when he was 12 . He went on to the Royal Naval College Dartmouth, before being commissioned as a Midshipman on HMS Queen Mary.
His 18-year-old brother Robert was a seasoned veteran by the time of Jutland, having already served in the Falklands and at Gallipoli.
On 31 May 1916, the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet met at Jutland off the coast of Denmark. HMS Queen Mary was destroyed during the battle, and Archibald, along with over 1200 men was lost with the ship. Robert was on the dreadnought HMS Benbow. In a letter he wrote to his mother, Kathleen, immediately after the battle, he said:
“I am awfully anxious about Archie, but we know nothing definite at present. It was indeed a fine sight to see the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron tearing across our bows firing furiously . . . It was a finer show than anything we ever saw in the Dardanelles. Please wire to me at once when you get news of Archie.”
Notice of Archie’s death arrived in a telegram delivered on 2 June. The letter Kathleen wrote to Robert after the devastating news is heartbreaking.
“My dearest and only boy. We can’t tell each other in writing what we are feeling today – my world was divided into three parts, and a third has crumbled away. You will, I hope, be some boy’s father some day, but you can never be his mother, so you can never know what I am feeling now.
I am telling the simple truth when I say, that all mothers and sons are not what we are to each other. He had needed me so much always, and I was perhaps too proud of the big handsome man my delicate kiddie was growing into. Thank God you missed being in the Queen Mary. I know you will always try to fill a double place, and the memory of our time together is a great comfort to me now. You seem so near and real to me now.”
For forty years, until she was no longer able, Kathleen visited the shoreline at Rosyth on the anniversary of the battle and placed a wreath in the Firth in memory of her son.
Artist’s Response
I was inspired by the mother of the two brothers, and her annual pilgrimage to lay a wreath in the harbour at Rosyth. A wreath made of Laurels from their garden and blue Forget-me-nots, tied together with a blue and gold naval ribbon. The main print was from a hand carved lino matrix with small areas of hand coloured highlights.
Felix Charlton
Edinburgh Printmakers Artist
Instagram: @felixcharlton_art
Felix is an Associate Member of Edinburgh Printmakers and has a special interest in making Lino-cut prints. Having done several courses in printmaking at Edinburgh Printmakers he is delighted to have been accepted to do an Masters in Fine Art at Edinburgh College of Art and begin there in Autumn of 2019.
