Recently I visited Grimsby Town Hall in North East Lincolnshire on private business. I was surprised to see a Fred Elwell painting hanging proudly alongside many other plaques and memorabilia of the town's history. The painting was of a Royal Navy sailor called John Travers Cornwell who bravely stayed at his post during the Battle of Jutland, when he was seriously wounded, and died from those wounds in June 1916. He was awarded a Victoria Cross for gallantry.
On reflection the painting does look like a Fred Elwell portrait in a traditional style with dark and sombre colours tending to predominate, as those were the more common colours of the time.
That evening on the same day I was at Beverley Freemasons' Masonic Hall and noticed that Fred Elwell was listed as the holder of a position in the Beverley Freemasons. It is a small world.
