William Harold Dudley

He painted landscapes which display the effects of light and colour on the landscape, often working out of doors. In his 50s he developed Parkinson's disease, which hampered his ability to paint and he died in 1949.

William Harold Dudley studied at Royal College of Art and Bilston School of Art. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is landscape painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are landscape. Work by William Harold Dudley is recorded in the collections of Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

• Name — William Harold Dudley • Born — 1890 • Birthplace — Bilston, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom • Died — 1949 • Education — * Bilston School of Art • Occupation — Painter

Dudley was part of a close knit working-class family. His father, Mesach, was an ironworker, employed at Bowen's ironworks in Bilston and his mother, Mary, was a coal-dealer's daughter from Ettingshall. He had three sisters Annie (b. 1882), Harriet (b. 1884) and Mary (b. 1894) and an older brother, Thomas (b. 1886) He studied at Bilston School of Art and later at the Royal College of Art, London, graduating from there in 1916.

During the First World War Dudley worked for the Intelligence Corps, drawing maps and he is mentioned in despatches for his bravery crawling through the trenches to deliver maps to the front line. Some works from this period exist, including an etching of a monk and a watercolour of a young boy. At around this time he married Frances Wells, who had been his art teacher. The couple did not have children but they shared a love of art and were both keen travellers.

After the war Dudley taught art in Cheltenham and Newport, South Wales as well as pursuing his painting career. His style was similar to that of the 'plein-air' painters of the Newlyn School, which included Alexander Stanhope Forbes and his wife Elizabeth Armstrong. After his death in 1949, his wife Frances, bequeathed many of his paintings to Bilston Art Gallery. and they are now in the collection of Wolverhampton Arts and Heritage Service.