In Memory of
Norman Arthur Ough
10 November 1898 3 August 1965
Copyright Alistair Roach 2016
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by
Seaforth Publishing,
Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street,
Barnsley S70 2AS
www.seaforthpubHshing.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4738 7947 8 ( HARDBACK )
ISBN 978 1 4738 77949 2 ( EPUB )
ISBN 978 1 4738 7948 5 ( KINDLE )
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing of both the copyright owner and the above publisher.
The right of Alistair Roach to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Typeset and designed by Neil Sayer
Printed by Printworks Global Ltd, London & Hong Kong
C ONTENTS
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Maggie Aherne, for her editing skills and expertise.
Jenny Durrant, Assistant Curator at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter.
Richard Eddy, for sharing his personal correspondence with Norman Ough.
Nancy Frankel, for her assistance with cataloguing the MacGregor Plans Collection.
Paul Freshney, Editor of Model Boats magazine, for his guidance.
Earl Howe, for his help with identifying models held by the Howe family.
Richard Jordan-Baker, Director of the Broadlands Estate, for access to the Mountbatten collection.
Brian Lavery, for assistance with model recognition.
David Lindridge, Collections Research Manager of the National Maritime Museum.
Julian Mannering, Seaforth Publications, for all his help and guidance.
William Mowll, for his advice and inspiration.
Jenny Orwin, Archivist at Bootham School.
Nigel Overton, Curator of Maritime Heritage, Plymouth City Museum.
Julien Parsons, Curator of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter.
Neera Puttapipat, at the Imperial War Museum, for help with photographs.
Philip Reed, for writing the Foreword.
John Rooney, Archivist at Hartley Library, Southampton University.
Simon Stephens, Curator of Ship Models, National Maritime Museum.
David Weller, for sharing his reminiscences about Norman Ough.
I am particularly indebted to Rhona Bolger at MyTimeMedia and to Eleni Papavasileiou, Head Curator of Library and Archives (ss Great Britain Trust). Also, to Martin Ough Dealy who has supplied me with many copies of letters and photographs from the Ough family. It is only because of these peoples and organisations generosity, in allowing original articles and plans to be republished, and for permitting me to use the family archive, that this book has come to fruition. Hopefully it will serve as a tribute to Norman Oughs life and work.
Finally, I thank my wife, Daphne, for her support and encouragement, as well as her forbearance, while every available surface in our house has been taken over either by piles of papers and books or by model boats.
F OREWORD
Back in the late 1950s and early 60s I was an art student living in south London, hoping in some way to pursue a life involved in fine art. I would occasionally take days off, and with a friend, head for the West End to visit art galleries and hunt through the many bookshops to be found around the Charing Cross Road in those days. This always ended up with a visit to Foyles Bookshop followed by a coffee in a small caf on the edge of Soho where we would peruse our spoils. Had I only known, just across the road from Foyles, several storeys up, was working a man who was later to have a quite profound influence on my life and work. That man was Norman Ough.
It was in 1971, when my career in fine art was failing, that I discovered, through a series of coincidences, the world of ship modelling. Right from the start it became the passion that has dominated my life ever since. Initially my work was with sailing vessels of the late nineteenth century but then a visit to the Imperial War Museum and a re-acquaintance with Normans work started me on a series of Second World War warships. As time went on I assembled articles, plans and photographs relating to and by Norman that were used both as research tools and as artistic inspiration.
A few of Normans models can still be seen in some of our national museums but, as seems to be the fashion nowadays, usually just the odd model displayed as part of an extended exhibition covering a wider event or battle; others languish in secure storage facilities. I and many others would maintain that his best works are worthy of recognition as outstanding works of art in their own right, and that they should be exhibited as such with due recognition given to the artist, as would be the case were he working with paint and canvas. He brought together a truly remarkable knowledge of his subjects at a time when most official information was restricted, and he had a true artists ability to put an individual stamp on his work, in a manner never before achieved.
In this volume Alistair Roach has given us a very timely and complete overview of Normans life and work, something for which I have been waiting and hoping for many years. I would dearly love to see a retrospective exhibition of his work; much is still in public hands, so its not such a mammoth task. Perhaps this present volume might nudge things in that direction.
Although we never met, Norman has been an ongoing inspiration and presence in my life over the years. Through chance meetings in museums and while undertaking modelling commissions, I have come into contact with many people who knew Norman well. All had a tale to tell. He was without doubt a man of genius, who lived a unique life well outside the conventions of the day. He was dedicated to his work, always willing to help the young and aspiring modelmakers, and a true and delightful eccentric into the bargain. If the present volume brings his work to a wider audience it will have more than achieved its purpose.
P HILIP R EED
I NTRODUCTION
S HIP M ODELS AND THE WORK OF N ORMAN O UGH
However intrinsically valuable or perfect a model may be she becomes far more intriguing if she has an appeal to the imagination and to the emotions; if one knows what ship she represents, or has at any rate some kind of inkling of the man who made her
(C F OX S MITH , 1951)
