R.A. Bevan
Encyclopedia
Robert Alexander Polhill Bevan (“Bobby”) CBE
(15 March 1901 – 20 December 1974) was a significant figure in British communications and advertising
during the mid-20th century. He was the second child of the artists Robert Polhill Bevan and Stanisława de Karłowska and was born at the Bevan house, Horsgate, in Cuckfield
Sussex
.
before entering Westminster School
as a King’s Scholar in 1913 at the early age of 12. In 1919 he went up to Christ Church, Oxford
and read Greats obtaining seconds in Mods and in Finals.
It was in his time at Bensons that some of the best known advertising campaigns of the 1920s and 1930s were produced. The products advertised included Guinness
, Bovril
, Johnnie Walker
and Colman’s Mustard
(The Mustard Club). Bevan was behind most of them, and he was still handling the Guinness account in the 1950s when he commissioned John Nash
to provide colour illustrations to Happy New Lear (1957). He was behind slogans such as "Guinness is Good for You" and was the inspiration for Mr Ingleby in Dorothy L. Sayers
' 1933 thriller Murder Must Advertise
.
Bobby Bevan was a member of London’s 1930s literary set. A particular friend was the novelist Anthony Powell
; who presented Bobby with copies of his first four novels, each fully dedicated with “arch and somewhat randy inscriptions”.
. In 1937 he and a friend, Harold Paton, commissioned a yacht Phryna
, which was built by J.Samuel White in Cowes
and designed by B. Heckstall-Smith and Wm.McMeek. They had a very successful couple of years racing before the outbreak of the Second World War.
For a short period Bevan was director of General Production at the Ministry of Information. However, having joined the RNVR in 1937 he was soon on active service. After a spell on HMS Ellington he was posted as a liaison officer to the French Navy
. Following the fall of France
Bevan prevented the scuttling of the “Commandant Dominé” and forced the captain to join the Free French at gunpoint. He was appointed OBE for this act in March 1941. In 1944, as a Captain
RNVR, Bevan was working as the Deputy Chief of Naval Information, in Washington, D.C.
This was a post that not only exercised all his skills at communication, but gave him access to many of the top players in American advertising, which was to prove useful in his later career.
, yet numerous portraits of his daughter, Halszka, survive. He also appears to have had problems in his relationship with women. He did marry on his return from the war, his bride being a vivacious divorcee–Natalie Sieveking (née Ackenhausen). However, within a year he found himself in a well publicised ménage à trois involving his wife and Randolph Churchill
. This was to continue until the latter’s death in 1968.
The Bevans lived at Boxted
House on the Essex
/Suffolk
border and had a flat in Knightsbridge
, London
. They entertained greatly and Boxted soon became a gathering place for artists, writers and gardeners. Weekend parties might consist of Maggi Hambling
, Francis Bacon
, A.P. Herbert, Ronald Blythe
, Beth Chatto
and John Gathorne-Hardy
. Other friends included the artists John Armstrong and Frederick Gore
, and others more closely associated with East Anglia
, such as Cedric Morris
, John Nash
and the architect Raymond Erith
The composer Benjamin Britten
and the tenor Peter Pears
might be there as would the art dealer Anthony d’Offay, who once brought down the artists Gilbert and George
.
, which opened in 1958 and Bobby served as chairman of its management committee, The Victor Batte-Lay Trust from 1963 until 1974.
During the 1950s and 1960s Bobby held a number of official appointments. He was:
He was also a founder member of the Board of Governors
of the Cutty Sark
Between 1954-64 he was Chairman of SH Benson Ltd, being appointed CBE
in the Queen
’s Birthday Honours List of 1963.
Bobby Bevan was something of a mentor to the New York
-based advertising executive David Ogilvy who frequently stayed at Boxted
during his trips to England. In 1948 Bevan had established Ogilvy as head of a new advertising agency in New York. This was to become Ogilvy, Benson and Mather. In 1964 it merged with David’s brother Francis’s agency to become Ogilvy and Mather
International Inc.
Ogilvy once said of Bevan "I was in awe of him but Bevan never took notice of me!"
Mani Ayer, former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather (India) said of him:
“Bevan was not a man who would share his experience or knowledge with you. He was an intellectual and came from a well-known family of painters and he preferred to live like an artistocrat.” However, this should be read in conjunction with that of the artist, John Nash
, who had known him since 1913. ‘Robert Bevan was a significant figure to us both and was, therefore, a bond between us. This was Bobby’s “cosy’ side”–he could be moody and at times rather formidable but beneath this one sensed always his intense loyalty to his real friends mixed with an affection that his undemonstrative nature hardly allowed him to disclose. I like to think I partook of these latter qualities. He was a very private person, talking little about his personal deeds even less about his personal thoughts and worries. His sympathy to those in distress, was almost feminine in its understanding.
friends and other associates, including Walter Sickert
, Paul Gauguin
, Paul Cézanne
and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
.
Bobby and his sister made a substantial gift of their father's work to the Ashmolean Museum
in 1957 and for the remainder of his life he applied all his business experience to the promotion of Robert
and Stanisława Bevan. A series of exhibitions were held throughout the 1960s. In 1965 Bobby produced a short book on his father, which until recently was the only work available.
He died of stomach cancer on 20 December 1974. Although he had no children of his own his widow retained the complete collection of artworks to the great distress of the artists' descendants.
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
(15 March 1901 – 20 December 1974) was a significant figure in British communications and advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
during the mid-20th century. He was the second child of the artists Robert Polhill Bevan and Stanisława de Karłowska and was born at the Bevan house, Horsgate, in Cuckfield
Cuckfield
Cuckfield is a large village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Haywards Heath to the southeast and Burgess...
Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
.
Education
Bevan was educated at The Hall SchoolHall School (Hampstead)
The Hall School is an independent boys' preparatory school in Belsize Park, Hampstead, London, currently teaching boys from the age of four to thirteen.-Description:The school is known for high academic standards...
before entering Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
as a King’s Scholar in 1913 at the early age of 12. In 1919 he went up to Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
and read Greats obtaining seconds in Mods and in Finals.
Advertising
In 1923 he entered the advertising company of S.H. Benson and became, what former colleague R.D. Bloomfield described as, "the personification of the greatest days of English advertising".It was in his time at Bensons that some of the best known advertising campaigns of the 1920s and 1930s were produced. The products advertised included Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
, Bovril
Bovril
Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick, salty meat extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston and sold in a distinctive, bulbous jar. It is made in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, owned and distributed by Unilever UK....
, Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch Whisky owned by Diageo and originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country with yearly sales of over 130 million bottles.-History:Originally known as Walker's...
and Colman’s Mustard
Mustard (condiment)
Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant...
(The Mustard Club). Bevan was behind most of them, and he was still handling the Guinness account in the 1950s when he commissioned John Nash
John Nash (artist)
John Northcote Nash CBE RA was a British painter of landscape and still-life, wood-engraver and illustrator, particularly of botanic works.-Biography:...
to provide colour illustrations to Happy New Lear (1957). He was behind slogans such as "Guinness is Good for You" and was the inspiration for Mr Ingleby in Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...
' 1933 thriller Murder Must Advertise
Murder Must Advertise
Murder Must Advertise is a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, published in 1933.Most of the action takes place in an advertising agency, a setting with which Sayers was very familiar. One of her advertising colleagues, Bobby Bevan, was the inspiration for the character Mr Ingleby...
.
Bobby Bevan was a member of London’s 1930s literary set. A particular friend was the novelist Anthony Powell
Anthony Powell
Anthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
; who presented Bobby with copies of his first four novels, each fully dedicated with “arch and somewhat randy inscriptions”.
Sailing and War Time
He was a passionate sailor and member of the Royal Ocean Racing ClubRoyal Ocean Racing Club
The Royal Ocean Racing Club also called RORC was established in 1925 as a result of a race to the Fastnet rock from Cowes and finishing in Plymouth. The RORC is the principal organiser of offshore yacht races in the UK, including the Fastnet race, the Admirals Cup and the Commodore's Cup...
. In 1937 he and a friend, Harold Paton, commissioned a yacht Phryna
Phryne
Phryne was a famous hetaera of Ancient Greece .- Early life :Her real name was Mnesarete , but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phryne "Toad", a name given to other courtesans. She was born at Thespiae in Boeotia, but seems to have lived at Athens...
, which was built by J.Samuel White in Cowes
Cowes
Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...
and designed by B. Heckstall-Smith and Wm.McMeek. They had a very successful couple of years racing before the outbreak of the Second World War.
For a short period Bevan was director of General Production at the Ministry of Information. However, having joined the RNVR in 1937 he was soon on active service. After a spell on HMS Ellington he was posted as a liaison officer to the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
. Following the fall of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Bevan prevented the scuttling of the “Commandant Dominé” and forced the captain to join the Free French at gunpoint. He was appointed OBE for this act in March 1941. In 1944, as a Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
RNVR, Bevan was working as the Deputy Chief of Naval Information, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
This was a post that not only exercised all his skills at communication, but gave him access to many of the top players in American advertising, which was to prove useful in his later career.
Marriage
Bobby Bevan had a difficult relationship with his father,, which might explain why there is only one known portrait of the son by Robert BevanRobert Bevan
Robert Polhill Bevan was an English painter, draughtsman and lithographer. He was a founding member of the Camden Town Group, the London Group, and the Cumberland Market Group.-Early life:...
, yet numerous portraits of his daughter, Halszka, survive. He also appears to have had problems in his relationship with women. He did marry on his return from the war, his bride being a vivacious divorcee–Natalie Sieveking (née Ackenhausen). However, within a year he found himself in a well publicised ménage à trois involving his wife and Randolph Churchill
Randolph Churchill
Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer-Churchill, MBE was the son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament for Preston from 1940 to 1945....
. This was to continue until the latter’s death in 1968.
The Bevans lived at Boxted
Boxted, Essex
Boxted is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is located approximately north of Colchester and northeast of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the borough of Colchester and in the parliamentary constituency of North Essex. There is a Parish council...
House on the Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
/Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
border and had a flat in Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. They entertained greatly and Boxted soon became a gathering place for artists, writers and gardeners. Weekend parties might consist of Maggi Hambling
Maggi Hambling
Maggi Hambling CBE is an English painter and sculptor. Perhaps her best known public works are a memorial to Oscar Wilde in central London and Scallop, a 4 metre high steel sculpture of two interlocking scallop shells on Aldeburgh beach dedicated to Benjamin Britten...
, Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (painter)
Francis Bacon , was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. Bacon's painterly but abstract figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds...
, A.P. Herbert, Ronald Blythe
Ronald Blythe
Ronald Blythe is an English writer and editor, best known in his native England for his Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village , a portrait of agricultural life in Suffolk from the turn of the century to the 1960s...
, Beth Chatto
Beth Chatto
Beth Chatto, OBE is a British plantswoman, garden designer and author best known for creating the Beth Chatto Gardens near Elmstead Market, in the English county of Essex. She is also known for writing a number of books on gardening for specific conditions. She has lectured throughout the UK,...
and John Gathorne-Hardy
Earl of Cranbrook
Earl of Cranbrook, in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1892 for the prominent Conservative politician Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Viscount Cranbrook. He notably held office as Home Secretary, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State...
. Other friends included the artists John Armstrong and Frederick Gore
Frederick Gore
Frederick John Pym Gore CBE RA , was a British painter. -Biography:Gore was born into the world of art; his mother, Mary Joanna Kerr, was a dancer from Edinburgh, and his father, Spencer Frederick Gore, a painter, President of the Camden Town Group until his early death in March 1914.As a young...
, and others more closely associated with East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, such as Cedric Morris
Cedric Morris
Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris, 9th Baronet was a British artist, art teacher and plantsman. He was born in Swansea but worked mainly in East Anglia...
, John Nash
John Nash (artist)
John Northcote Nash CBE RA was a British painter of landscape and still-life, wood-engraver and illustrator, particularly of botanic works.-Biography:...
and the architect Raymond Erith
Raymond Erith
Raymond Erith was an English architect known for his restorations and work in a traditional styles. Critic Ian Nairn described his work as "genuinely Georgian, not 'neo'".He formed the partnership Erith & Terry with his pupil Quinlan Terry....
The composer Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
and the tenor Peter Pears
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
might be there as would the art dealer Anthony d’Offay, who once brought down the artists Gilbert and George
Gilbert and George
Gilbert & George are two artists who work together as a collaborative duo. Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore have become famous for their distinctive, highly formal appearance and manner and their brightly coloured graphic-style photo-based artworks.-Early life:Gilbert Proesch was...
.
Later career and Public Works
The Bevans had very close links with the Minories art gallery, in ColchesterColchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
, which opened in 1958 and Bobby served as chairman of its management committee, The Victor Batte-Lay Trust from 1963 until 1974.
During the 1950s and 1960s Bobby held a number of official appointments. He was:
- 1958: nominated as the UK representative on UN Committee on Public Information;
- 1958: member of the Advisory Council on Middle East Trade;
- 1958-1963; Export Publicity Council;
- 1959-1963; National Advisory Council on Art Education;
- 1960-1964; Advertising Standards AuthorityAdvertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...
; - 1962-1966. Institute of Practitioners in AdvertisingInstitute of Practitioners in AdvertisingThe Institute of Practitioners in Advertising is the trade body and professional institute for 250 leading agencies in the UK's advertising, media and marketing communications industry, covering the creative, digital, direct marketing, healthcare, media, outdoor, sales promotion and sponsorship...
(President in 1961)
He was also a founder member of the Board of Governors
Board of governors
Board of governors is a term sometimes applied to the board of directors of a public entity or non-profit organization.Many public institutions, such as public universities, are government-owned corporations. The British Broadcasting Corporation was managed by a board of governors, though this role...
of the Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark
The Cutty Sark is a clipper ship. Built in 1869, she served as a merchant vessel , and then as a training ship until being put on public display in 1954...
Between 1954-64 he was Chairman of SH Benson Ltd, being appointed CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
in the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
’s Birthday Honours List of 1963.
Bobby Bevan was something of a mentor to the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
-based advertising executive David Ogilvy who frequently stayed at Boxted
Boxted, Essex
Boxted is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is located approximately north of Colchester and northeast of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the borough of Colchester and in the parliamentary constituency of North Essex. There is a Parish council...
during his trips to England. In 1948 Bevan had established Ogilvy as head of a new advertising agency in New York. This was to become Ogilvy, Benson and Mather. In 1964 it merged with David’s brother Francis’s agency to become Ogilvy and Mather
Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather is an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency based in Manhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries with approximately 16,000 employees.-History:...
International Inc.
Ogilvy once said of Bevan "I was in awe of him but Bevan never took notice of me!"
Mani Ayer, former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather (India) said of him:
“Bevan was not a man who would share his experience or knowledge with you. He was an intellectual and came from a well-known family of painters and he preferred to live like an artistocrat.” However, this should be read in conjunction with that of the artist, John Nash
John Nash (artist)
John Northcote Nash CBE RA was a British painter of landscape and still-life, wood-engraver and illustrator, particularly of botanic works.-Biography:...
, who had known him since 1913. ‘Robert Bevan was a significant figure to us both and was, therefore, a bond between us. This was Bobby’s “cosy’ side”–he could be moody and at times rather formidable but beneath this one sensed always his intense loyalty to his real friends mixed with an affection that his undemonstrative nature hardly allowed him to disclose. I like to think I partook of these latter qualities. He was a very private person, talking little about his personal deeds even less about his personal thoughts and worries. His sympathy to those in distress, was almost feminine in its understanding.
The Bevan Collection
When Bevan’s mother died in 1952 she left Bobby and his sister Halszka (Mrs Charles Baty) an equal share in a large collection of family paintings and many works by their parents, as well as their Camden Town GroupCamden Town Group
The Camden Town Group was a group of English Post-Impressionist artists active 1911-1913. They gathered frequently at the studio of painter Walter Sickert in the Camden Town area of London.-History:...
friends and other associates, including Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
, Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
, Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was a French sculptor who developed a rough hewn, primitive style of direct carving....
.
Bobby and his sister made a substantial gift of their father's work to the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
in 1957 and for the remainder of his life he applied all his business experience to the promotion of Robert
Robert Bevan
Robert Polhill Bevan was an English painter, draughtsman and lithographer. He was a founding member of the Camden Town Group, the London Group, and the Cumberland Market Group.-Early life:...
and Stanisława Bevan. A series of exhibitions were held throughout the 1960s. In 1965 Bobby produced a short book on his father, which until recently was the only work available.
He died of stomach cancer on 20 December 1974. Although he had no children of his own his widow retained the complete collection of artworks to the great distress of the artists' descendants.