Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Rare and Haunting series of Prisoner-of-War Artwork, by Leo Rawlings (1918-84), a poignant reminder of the terrible hardships suffered by Allied personnel in Japanese hands

Seven original sketches in varying materials, including charcoal, pencil and local dyes, three of which are executed on ‘Government House, Singapore’ paper; all drawn by Rawlings while a Japanese-held prisoner-of-war at Changi and elsewhere, or immediately following his liberation; the titles of his work include: ‘Urine Collecting (Manure for the Garden)’; ‘Vultures, Eaters of the Dead’; ‘A Barge Taking Men Upstream Overturned’; ‘Mass Burial, Twice Daily’; ‘Some Effects of 75% Rice Diet’; ‘When the Railway was Finished ....’; and a four-feature sheet depicting ‘Everyday Sights’, sizes vary, from 175 x 125mm. to 275 x 225mm. (all approximate), very good condition (7) £800-1200

Leo Rawlings saw service with the 137th Field Regiment, R.A. (T.F.) during the fighting which culminated in the fall of Singapore. Taken prisoner, he subsequently endured three and a half years of captivity, his talented (and illegal) sketch work immediately coming to the attention of General Sir Louis Heath, who desired that an unofficial record be kept of the atrocious conditions suffered by fellow prisoners. The General loaned Rawlings his own notes to assist accuracy but with practically no paints with which to work, Rawlings was compelled to improvise and use materials such as clay or root juice. Brushes were made from his own hair.

Constantly working under the threat of an immediate death sentence - for the Japanese had ruled that no records of any kind were to be maintained - Rawlings ultimately completed an extraordinary folio of artwork, the contents of which have frequently been used in post-war publications and/or been exhibited throughout the U.K. But for the steadfast allegiance of his fellow prisoners, who kept watch while he worked, it is very likely that the artist and his artwork would pass into history as another grim statistic in the ‘Railway of Death’ roll of honour. Completed drawings were hidden inside an old stove pipe and then buried in the earth under the artist’s bed.

Many of his drawings, including the above, were reproduced in Rawling’s own account of those terrible years in captivity; his book, And the Dawn Came Up Like Thunder, is included with the lot.