Return to the Farm, Ronald Lampitt

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A Farm in February is the title of this ‘Picture to Talk About’, published in Treasure Magazine, 1963. But what Ronald Lampitt’s illustration does is to take a snapshot of a very particular point in the modernisation – and mechanisation – of British farming. Some of the artists, such as C F Tunnicliffe, S R Badmin and John Leigh-Pemberton are well known in the art world. However, when it comes to many of the other artists, despite the enormous impact they may have had on so many childhoods, it has been an area largely left to the hobbyist and the blogger, such as myself, to collate and record their story. Ronald never got that 'proper job'. Self-taught as an artist, he began to take on work as a commercial illustrator. Shortly before the war, in 1938, he married Mona Deverson, six years his junior. Although born in the West Country, Lampitt lived most of his life in Sidcup and loved the Kent countryside. He was a good friend of Roland and Edith Hilder, who had previously illustrated ‘Wild Flowers’ for Ladybird, and together they formed a sketching club, going out for long walks in the countryside around Shoreham, armed with sketch pads.

During the early days of the Second World War, necessity became the mother of invention for the company, then called Wills & Hepworth. There was a shortage of well-made, colourful and robust non-fiction books to meet the demands of the burgeoning education market. What histories can we read in a landscape? How have people and communities been shaped by the places they occupy? Dr Adam Chapman, of the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community, and Editor of the Victoria County History (VCH) looks at what we can learn about how the post-war farming landscape shows its pasts and provided hints at its futures. This is a winter landscape with leafless trees, a grey sky and fields bare of crops. The farmstead sits in the centre and, from Lampitt’s depiction, we can trace the farm’s origins and several phases in its development. This is, almost certainly, a product of the process of parliamentary enclosure, perhaps somewhere in the Kentish Weald in the 18th century. (Enclosure was the process by which common land and strip farming in open fields was brought into private ownership and the landless – who relied on access to commons to graze animals – were forced from the land.)

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A Ladybird Book of Our Land in the Making: Book 2: Norman Conquest to Present Day’ by Richard Bowood, 1966. A weekly magazine, each John Bull cover illustration took several weeks to complete and provided a steady income stream at a time where commercial illustration was more perilous employment than most. However, Lampitt enjoyed other successful relationships with other companies, including for Medici cards, Readers Digest, Look and Learn magazine and the Whitbread calendar. Learning About Insects and Small Animals by Romola Showell. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird Books), 1972. A Ladybird Book of Our Land in the Making: Book 1: Earliest Times to the Norman Conquest’ by Richard Bowood, 1966. For many years I have been collecting original artwork, artefacts and stories about these artists and their world and I am delighted that The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge first gave me me the opportunity to share this fascinating story.

The Map That Came to Life by H. J. Deverson. London, Geoffrey Cumberlege/Oxford University Press, 1948. [available online here] Harry Wingfield and Martin Atichison are today perhaps best known for illustrating the Peter and Jane books that taught so many of us to read. But Aitchison’s wartime service saw him working with Barnes Wallis, producing artist’s impressions to help sell the idea of the Dambusters bouncing bomb – which was tested at Reculver. You can see more of Ronald Lampitt’s work, along with other Ladybird book ‘golden-age’ artists, at the exhibition The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists Of course, then I took this all for granted. It was only much later, when I myself was a mother that I began to appreciate what excellent books they were. One day I intercepted a bag of second-hand children’s books which a friend was taking to a jumble sale. Of all the 'golden age' Ladybird artists, it could be argued that Ronald Lampitt has the most distinctive style. He never received formal art training and it is interesting to speculate whether, had he attended art college, something of this individuality would have been lost. Born in March 1906, Ronald was the oldest of the three boys born to Roland Edward Lampitt and Florence (nee Pope). The family were comfortably off but, when young Ronald was offered a place to study at The Slade, his father refused to let him go, advising him to "get a proper job".His advertising poster design were commissioned and produced by British Railways, Great Western Railway, London Midland & Scottish Railway, Southern Railway and Brooke Bond tea. This is a winter landscape with leafless trees, a grey sky and fields bare of crops. The farmstead sits in the centre and, from Lampitt’s depiction, we can trace the farm’s origins and several phases in its development. This is, almost certainly, a product of the process of parliamentary enclosure came across these 1950’s John Bull magazines with covers illustrated by Lampitt. They exemplify his Betjemanesque vision of an England I’m sure that my idea of beauty was shaped by evaluating Cinderella’s ball dresses, Jane felt like my friend and Peter looked like a tidier version of my own big brother. The Story of the Ladybird Artists 1940-75, can be seen at the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury until 23 September 2018, and is open Tue-Sun. Admission is free

Born in March 1906, Ronald was the oldest of the three boys born to Roland Edward Lampitt and Florence (nee Pope). The family were comfortably off but, when young Ronald was offered a place to study at The Slade, his father refused to let him go, advising him to “get a proper job”.Ronald Lampitt saw all this and recorded it for Treasure Magazine. It can be dated, just by what it shows, to a February day in the late 50s [the picture was published in 1963 but may have been produced a few years earlier] but the details it includes show the past and present of this small farm and hints at its future.”

His main subject was landscape paintings and paintings of rural scenes; his scenic views of towns were published as travel posters by railway companies, including G.W.R. and Southern Railway. Frank Hampson created the character of Dan Dare and was at the forefront of The Eagle magazine for many years. Ronald Lampitt was born in Worcester in 1906. He was a self-taught commercial artist and illustrator, who produced artworks for John Bull magazine, The Sunday Times, Reader's Digest and other publications. He worked on children's books in collaboration with his brother-in-law, Henry Deverson and illustrated nine Ladybird books and the magazine Look and Learn. Growing up in the 1970s, I have long-standing memories of Lampitt’s artwork, mainly from using ‘Our Land in the Making’ and ‘Plants and How they Grow’ for school projects. I wasn’t interested in maps and associated his work with school and with the muted, muddy colours which are a characteristic of those books. It wasn’t until years later, when I came across other work that he produced, for Readers Digest, Look and Learn, the Whitbread Calendar and John Bull, that I fell in love with the wistful, nostalgic appeal of his landscapes, with expansive views dotted with the elm-trees, small lanes and oast house and tiny figures engaged in daily activity.

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Even where the machines themselves are invisible their presence is felt: the sheep are hemmed in by square bales of straw, providing some shelter from the winter winds. Pudney(1909-1977) was a prolific British journalist and writer (despite leaving school at 16), memorable for his short stories, his wartime poem For Johnny(1941) and his BAFTA-winning documentary ‘Elizabeth is Queen’ (1953). In the aforementioned article, he proposes his vision: Animals and How They Live by Frank Newing & Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird Books), 1965. These last books were published at a time of great change for Ladybird. Douglas Keen was looking to retire and, together with his co-directors, the decision was made to sell the company to a large publishing conglomerate. Perhaps somewhere in this upheaval lies the reason why Lampitt illustrated nothing more for Ladybird.