Pte James Henry & Charlotte Elizabeth Andrews

This painting shows my great grandparents, probably in 1915.

My great grandfather had enlisted in September 1914 joining the Leicestershire Regiment. He was moved to the front in July 1915 where he fought in France and Belgium. Injured in July 1916, he spent a week in hospital before returning to frontline duty where he was killed on 9th October 1917. He has no grave but is listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial in West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. His widow later remarried and I remember her from my childhood as 'Granny' - now an old lady who was by then totally blind and confined to her bed. 

To mark the 100 years anniversary of his death we held a family wreath laying at the War Memorial in East Farndon where he had been born and lived.

This painting is in acrylics and based on the only photograph we have which is a copy of an old creased black and white print. Adding colours is easy for a uniform, but for Charlotte's clothes I have picked colours that would have been around in the period.