(click image to enlarge)
The village of Hayfield and the market town of Glossop are neighbouring settlements in Derbyshire, within the Peak District National Park. Hennell had never learned to drive and cycled huge distances throughout Britain on his bicycle which he had carefully adapted to hold his painting equipment. In September 1941 the Industrial Publicity Unit, which was responsible for allied propaganda in the foreign press, commissioned Hennell to record the superior quality of the scythes manufactured in Worcestershire by Isaac Nash Ltd. This article was intended for the American press, to emphasise the health of British manufacturing, with the aim of promoting Anglo-American relations (America had not yet joined the war). From there the IPU then sent Hennell to Dronfield in Sheffield to research for an article about the health of the steelworks. This watercolour must have been done at this period, before he cycled the two hundred miles home to Ridley in Kent.
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