Laurence Cyril Bagley (20 October 1922 – 22 October 1983) was an English artist. Best known for his marine and aviation paintings, he was also a writer and illustrator.
Early life and career
His father, Cyril Lawrence Bagley was a carpenter, builder and architect and his mother was Madeline Elizabeth Bennett. Between 1927 and 1933 he attended Lee-on-the-Solent County Primary School and went on to study at Gosport Grammar School until he was fourteen. Throughout his early years it is said he only ever wanted to be an artist.
In 1938 his father found him an apprenticeship as a draftsman at Airspeed Ltd. The company had recently relocated from York to Portsmouth Airfield. He suffered ill health as a teenager and at the age of 18 contracted meningitis and was admitted to hospital. In April 1940 the Airspeed design team moved from Portsmouth to Hatfield as part of a streamlining following their takeover by de Havilland. It is thought that he moved north with the company to complete his apprenticeship. During his time as a draughtsman at Airspeed Bagley drew what has now become the definitive cutaway drawing of the Horsa troop carrying glider.
He moved to Leighton Buzzard and worked at Eaton Bray as a staff artist at Aeromodeller magazine. During his time with the magazine (and its sister publications: Model Maker, Model Boats, Scale Models, Model Cars, Model Railway News) he produced almost one hundred cover paintings, designed and drew model aircraft plans, and contributed numerous line illustrations for the magazine. He continued to paint occasional cover pictures for the magazine in the 1960s and early 70s. It was in Aeromodeller's offices at Eaton Bray that he met Kathleen Grant (Judy), who was working there as a tracer. The office romance flourished and in June 1947 they were married in Aldershot. They moved back to southern England where they rented a flat in Old Portsmouth. In 1950 their daughter Lindsey was born, and in 1953 their son Russell.
Going freelance
Through most of the 1950s Bagley worked at , a naval shore station in Portsmouth as a civilian Technical Illustrator. He worked in a small team producing artwork for educational and training films. The Admiralty pay rates were low in those austere times, so of necessity Bagley continued developing his freelance work in his spare time. His Holy Grail was to have a Flight magazine cover published. Time after time he sent paintings off on the train to London only to have them rejected until finally one was accepted. This was a tipping point in his career and more work began to come in from Flight and other publications. He also received commissions to provide artwork for railway posters for British Rail. In 1958 he finally left his secure position at Vernon to become a freelance artist.
In 1953, as a commemoration of Queen Elizabeth's Coronation year, the government commissioned a number of artists, most of them famous, but also some upstarts, to paint pictures of the coronation. The then Ministry of Works commissioned three of Bagley's: The Procession Passing the Cenotaph plus Police Assembling at Dawn, Whitehall and Decorations in Whitehall, Coronation, June 1953. All three paintings are still in public ownership, under the auspices of the Government Art Collection. To this day the first of these paintings hangs in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in central London in an office overlooking Downing Street.
Books
In the same year Bagley's first book, How to Fly was published by Blackie and Son, followed by The Boy's Book of Aircraft in 1954. Both books were generously illustrated. A glowing review in Flight magazine of 1953 says: "... Mr. Bagley is up to date, knows his subject, writes in a breezy manner and—above all— has illustrated his book with his own excellent drawings in black and white and colour."
In 1956 the growing Bagley family bought their first home, a newly built semi-detached house in Bedhampton. Bagley rented a small studio in Havant where he worked above Gardeners picture framing shop. They moved again in 1959 to a larger house in Lee-on-the-Solent where a spare bedroom was converted into a studio. His south facing upstairs room provided views over the Solent (until the late 70's when a block of flats was built behind the house).