‘Gassed’

[Uncle George]

An interesting article in today’s ‘Guardian’ concerning Sargent’s ‘Gassed’:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/12/it-glows-restorer-removes-queasy-look-from-first-world-war-painting-gassed

[Mark Hone]

Fascinating stuff. Sargent's inspiration for 'Gassed' came from his visit to Bac Du Sud Casualty Clearing Station. This is an extract from the guidebook to my 2018 School Battlefields Tour:

'Like many Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries, Bac Du Sud started as a burial ground for nearby medical facilities, in this case Casualty Clearing Stations and Field Ambulance Units during the fighting in the spring and summer of 1918. The Cemetery now contains 688 British Empire and 55 German burials. They include Walter Dungate, the great-great-great grandfather of a member of our tour party.

Walter Dungate was the middle of three brothers from the Pimlico area of London. When war broke out he and his wife Lily were living with their three children at 99 Pimlico Road. His elder brother, Harold, was killed serving as a Sergeant with the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry during the Second Battle of Ypres on 8^th May 1915. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate. Walter Dungate himself volunteered for the army  in early 1915. As his house overlooked Chelsea Barracks it was only a short walk for Walter to enlist in 1^st Battalion Grenadier Guards, who were stationed there.

Walter first arrived on the Western Front on 26^th July 1915. He saw extensive active service , returning to Chelsea Barracks several times to recuperate from wounds. He was promoted to Corporal and, as his last letter makes clear, by August 1918 he was being considered for commission as an officer.

 

On 22nd August 1918, as part of the Allied advance, 1^st Battalion Grenadier Guards seized a key position southwest of the town of St Leger which allowed Divisions on either side to advance the following day. It was probably during this fighting that Walter was wounded. He was taken to one of the Casualty Clearing Stations at Bac Du Sud where he died on 24^th August 1918, aged 32.

Three days before Walter Dungate’s death, Bac Du Sud was visited by the famous artist John Singer Sargent. Sargent, born in America, was best known for his portraits of the rich and famous but in July 1918, aged 62, he began a tour of the Western Front. On 21^st August 1918 he witnessed a scene at Bac du Sud which was described by his travelling companion Henry Tonks:

‘After tea we heard that on the Doullens Road at the Corps dressing station at le Bac-du-Sud there were a good many gassed cases, so we went there. The dressing station was situated on the road and consisted of a number of huts and a few tents. Gassed cases kept coming in, lead along in parties of about six just as Sargent has depicted them, by an orderly. They sat or lay down on the grass, there must have been several hundred, evidently suffering a great deal, chiefly I fancy from their eyes which were covered up by a piece of lint... Sargent was very struck by the scene and immediately made a lot of notes. It was a very fine evening and the sun toward setting’

This incident became the basis for Sargent’s very large oil painting ‘Gassed’, completed in the spring of 1919. It is now in the collection of the Imperial War Museum and is probably the most famous painting inspired by the First World War. At the time of our tour, ‘Gassed’ was part of an exhibition at the IWM North in Salford.'

The photographs show Corporal Walter Dungate (top) and his son Leslie at the grave at Bac Du Sud Cemetery in the 1920s, before the original wooden crosses were replaced by stone markers. The photograph of Leslie Dungate was restaged, with Walter's modern descendant standing in for Leslie, on the 2018 school tour. 

 

 

Edited 27 October , 2023 by Mark Hone

[Uncle George]

23 minutes ago, Mark Hone said:

Fascinating stuff. Sargent's inspiration for 'Gassed' came from his visit to Bac Du Sud Casualty Clearing Station. This is an extract from the guidebook to my 2018 School Battlefields Tour:

Like many Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries, Bac Du Sud started as a burial ground for nearby medical facilities, in this case Casualty Clearing Stations and Field Ambulance Units during the fighting in the spring and summer of 1918. The Cemetery now contains 688 British Empire and 55 German burials. They include Walter Dungate, the great-great-great grandfather of a member of our tour party.

Walter Dungate was the middle of three brothers from the Pimlico area of London. When war broke out he and his wife Lily were living with their three children at 99 Pimlico Road. His elder brother, Harold, was killed serving as a Sergeant with the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry during the Second Battle of Ypres on 8^th May 1915. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate. Walter Dungate himself volunteered for the army  in early 1915. As his house overlooked Chelsea Barracks it was only a short walk for Walter to enlist in 1^st Battalion Grenadier Guards, who were stationed there.

Walter first arrived on the Western Front on 26^th July 1915. He saw extensive active service , returning to Chelsea Barracks several times to recuperate from wounds. He was promoted to Corporal and, as his last letter makes clear, by August 1918 he was being considered for commission as an officer.

 

On 22nd August 1918, as part of the Allied advance, 1^st Battalion Grenadier Guards seized a key position southwest of the town of St Leger which allowed Divisions on either side to advance the following day. It was probably during this fighting that Walter was wounded. He was taken to one of the Casualty Clearing Stations at Bac Du Sud where he died on 24^th August 1918, aged 32.

Three days before Walter Hungate’s death, Bac Du Sud was visited by the famous artist John Singer Sargent. Sargent, born in America, was best known for his portraits of the rich and famous but in July 1918, aged 62, he began a tour of the Western Front. On 21^st August 1918 he witnessed a scene at Bac du Sud which was described by his travelling companion Henry Tonks:

‘After tea we heard that on the Doullens Road at the Corps dressing station at le Bac-du-Sud there were a good many gassed cases, so we went there. The dressing station was situated on the road and consisted of a number of huts and a few tents. Gassed cases kept coming in, lead along in parties of about six just as Sargent has depicted them, by an orderly. They sat or lay down on the grass, there must have been several hundred, evidently suffering a great deal, chiefly I fancy from their eyes which were covered up by a piece of lint... Sargent was very struck by the scene and immediately made a lot of notes. It was a very fine evening and the sun toward setting’

This incident became the basis for Sargent’s very large oil painting ‘Gassed’, completed in the spring of 1919. It is now in the collection of the Imperial War Museum and is probably the most famous painting inspired by the First World War. At the time of our tour, ‘Gassed’ was part of an exhibition at the IWM North in Salford.

The photographs show Corporal Walter Dungate (top) and his son Leslie at his grave at Bac Du Sud Cemetery in the 1920s, before the original wooden crosses were replaced by stone markers. The photograph of Leslie Dungate was recreated on the 2018 school tour. 

 

 

Fascinating and moving. Thanks for posting.

[dickaren]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.