Thomas Barclay Hennell

Private papers of the artist and writer Thomas Hennell. The Museum also holds a small collection of his artwork.

Born in 1903 in Ridley in Kent, Thomas Hennell was an English writer and artist who specialised in capturing scenes of rural life. He trained in Regent Street Polytechnic in London, and subsequently taught art at Kingswood School in Bath. In 1932 he was treated for mental health issues in St John’s Hospital, near Aylesbury, and in 1933 was transferred as a private patient into Claybury Hospital, one of the large county asylums surrounding London. On his discharge in 1935 he went back to working as an artist in Kent, and published his biographical account of his illness, ‘The Witnesses’, in 1938. In 1943 he was selected to be a war artist by the Ministry of Defence, and was killed on duty in Indonesia in 1945.

See Michael McLeod, ‘Thomas Hennell: Countryman, artist and writer’ for further details

These records are arranged in the Australian Records Series System, and the catalogue has been adapted for display on Archives Hub. There may be some slight differences in description between this entry and the initial cataloguing work.

Any records containing sensitive personal information of subjects who may still be alive will be closed. Some records may be unavailable for access due to preservation concerns

Full catalogue available at http://archives.museumofthemind.org.uk/brha.htm