Cuthbert Orde

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameCuthbert Julian•Orde
Used nameCuthbert•Orde
Born18 December 1888 in Great Yarmouth, England (GBR)
Died19 December 1968 in London, England (GBR)
NOC Great Britain

Biography

Cuthbert Orde was an illustrator, mostly known for his drawings of Allied Battle of Britain pilots. He himself was also a pilot in World War I. He was officially commissioned by the Air Ministry to portray members of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain – in all 150 portraits were completed. These pilots were in the early part of their service at the time and many went on to become legendary names but all were members of Churchill’s “few” who showed great bravery under enormous pressure and seemingly insurmountable odds. He was the author of Pilots of Fighter Command: Sixty Four Portraits. He also painted landscapes and still lifes.

In the early 1920s Orde had set up a painting studio in Paris, and influenced by the earlier Fauves movement, also experimented with a restricted palette. During World War I he was a member of the Royal Flying Corps and was eventually promoted Flight Commander to the rank of temporary Major in 1918. Forty of his friends spent an hour with him on his 80th birthday and after they left he told his wife “That is the best birthday party I have ever had” – he died a few hours later.

His brother Herbert Walter Julian was killed in action during the war and his other brother Michael Amyas Julian was held as a POW from 1916-18 and died in a flying accident in 1920. His father Sir Julian Walter Orde (1861-1929) was the founder and a long-term Secretary of the Automobile Car Club of Britain and Ireland. The family had a strong military tradition going back several centuries.

The portrait of Wing-Commander Orlebar A.F.C ., holder of world’s speed record was painted in 1931 (oil on canvas, 41.9 x 35.6 cm) and is in the Royal Air Force Museum. Augustus Henry Orlebar (1897-1943) was an Army and – after being wounded in World War I – Royal Air Force officer who served in both world wars. His last rank was deputy air marshal. Between the wars he was a test pilot and set an air speed record of 576 km/hr in 1929.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1932 Summer Olympics Art Competitions GBR Cuthbert Orde
Painting, Paintings, Open (Olympic) AC