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Recruits to the Artists Rifles included poet Wilfred Owen and Alfred Leete, the artist behind the World War One recruiting poster ‘Your Country Needs You’ featuring Lord Kitchener. Both received their officer training at Hare Hall, now the Royal Liberty School, in Romford.

The Artists Rifles were established 1860 in Piccadilly. Its founding members were painters such as Frederic Leighton, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the regiment was well regarded for its excellent officer training. So much so, that by 1915, joining the Rifles was seen as a guaranteed route to an officer’s commission.

During World War One; 15,000 men passed through the battalion and more than 10,000 obtained the rank of officer.

Poet Edward Thomas also trained at Hare Hall and wrote a number of pieces inspired by the area around the camp.

Location: Royal Liberty School (formerly Hare Hall), Romford, London RM2
Image of the Artists Rifles, courtesy of Dr Strube, Crawley