Maurice was about 11 years old in December 1908 when he submitted the Christmas Pudding drawing along with a poem to the Invalids’ Magazine Album. Perhaps he also had the natural artistic talent that was so abundant in his family. We will never know, as Maurice lost his life at the tender age of 21 years when he fell in action in northern France on 14 September 1918. He is commemorated at the Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais (grave ref IG22). He is also remembered – alongside his cousin Lawrence Rowland Arthur Dicksee – on the Ripple War Memorial in Kent which honours former pupils of Upton School in Ripple. In 1919, Sir Frank Dicksee painted a portrait of his deceased great nephew Maurice proudly wearing his uniform.

Thanks go to the LMA for the picture of Maurice’s drawing, which comes from one of the issues of the Invalid’s Magazine Album held by them.