Balston , Thomas , 1883-1967 , Major , author and publisher

Born in 1883; educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford; tutor to Counts Gianbattista and Cesare Spaletti, Italy, 1906-1907; called to the Bar, Inner Temple, 1909; secretary to T Fisher Unwin, publisher, 1912-1914; served in France and Belgium with 12 Gloucestershire Regt, 1914-1919; Staff Capt, 96 Infantry Bde, 1915-1917; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, 3 Div, 1917-1918, and 3 Corps, 1918-1919; worked for Duckworth and Co, publishers, 1921-1934; started to paint, 1934; one-man exhibition, Redfern Gallery, 1938; recalled to Southern Command as Staff Capt, Dec 1939, but invalided out after three months by pneumonia; organised and catalogued Exhibition of Wood-Engraving in Modern English Books, National Book League, 1949, Mark Gertler Memorial Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1949, and John Martin Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1953; died in 1967.