Thomas Hennell (16 April 1903 – 1945) was a British artist and writer.
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Hennell was born in Ridley, Kent in 1903.[1] He studied at Regent Street Polytechnic and qualified as a teacher.[2] He suffered a nervous breakdown from 1932-1935 and was detained at the Maudsley Hospital.[1][2] After his release, Edward Bawden, a fellow artist, encouraged Hennell to write The Witnesses, an account of his mental illness.[2]
At the outbreak of war in 1939 Hennell wrote to the War Artists Advisory Commission offering his services as an artist.[2] He worked for the Pilgrim Trust in 1940 and the Ministry of Information in 1941.[1] Hennell was named as an official war artist in 1943 and sent to replace Eric Ravilious in Iceland.[1] Hennell took part in the Normandy Landings and recorded the war in Holland, India and Burma.[1] Hennell was captured by Indonesian nationalist fighters in Batavia in November 1945 and was presumed to have been killed shortly thereafter.[1]
Hennell's art works centred on the countryside, and in particular hedging, threshing, baling, and clearing orchards etc.[2] Hennell was a member of The Royal Watercolour Society and exhibited in The New English Art Club. As an artist he recorded the surrender of Singapore during World War II[3]