Edmund Blampied RBA RE Old Court House, St Aubin, Jersey

Edmund Blampied RBA RE (1886–1966)

Born five days after the death of his father, Edmund Blampied RBA RE (1886–1966) was brought up by his mother, Elizabeth, a dressmaker and shopkeeper. Artistically talented from a young age, his early sketches were brought to the attention of a local businessman who offered to sponsor his art studies in London. Blampied's first language was Jèrriais, and when aged sixteen he left Jersey to study at the Lambeth School of Art under Philip Connard RA, he could barely speak a word of English. Nevertheless, Blampied's skills as an illustrator were recognised and in 1904 he was recommended for a part-time job on the staff of a national newspaper, the Daily Chronicle. From here he transferred to the London County Council School of Photo-engraving and Lithography, where he developed his skills as an etcher and made a number of friends, including Salomon van Abbe, whose sister, Marianne, he would marry in 1914.

Over the following decades Blampied would spend time living in London, but it was on Jersey that he ultimately chose to settle. From 1911 he established a successful studio in London as an independent commercial illustrator, providing drawings for many magazines. Between 1916 and 1919 he was back in Jersey, working in the Royal Jersey Militia during the First World War. Returning to London after the war, Blampied's etchings found new popularity; he was elected an Associate then prestigious Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1920 and 1921 respectively. Also in 1920, he held a solo show of etchings and drypoints in London at the Leicester Galleries. His first American exhibition took place at Kennedy and Company, New York, in 1922.

Blampied achieved prolific success as an illustrator in London throughout the 1920s and 1930s—including work as an accomplished humorist and caricaturist—and in 1938 he became a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. But just before the outbreak of the Second World War he chose to return to Jersey, to settle with his wife. Despite the German Occupation, and the fact that Marianne was Jewish, the Blampieds remained living on Jersey throughout the war and for the rest of their lives. During Occupation, Blampied received commissions to produce designs for Jersey banknotes and postage stamps. Later in life, he focused mainly on painting in oil and watercolour. It is said that a painting lay unfinished on his easel at his death aged eighty. His ashes were scattered in St Aubin's Bay, Jersey.

Blampied's work is held in the collections throughout the UK including the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Leeds City Art Gallery and Glasgow City Art Gallery, as well as overseas in Australia and in museums throughout the USA.