D H Osborne Artist
1919 -2016

Dennis Henry Osborne, one of five children, was born in Portsmouth on 23 December 1919, to a Royal Naval family. His father, Ernest Edward Osborne was a pioneer submariner in the WW1 and rejoined in WW2 as a naval ratings instructor.  Dennis, along with two of his brothers and his only sister, also served in WW2 with the Royal Artillery.

 A Dunkirk Veteran, he was captured in North Africa in 1941 and shipped to a prison camp in the Dolomites, Italy.   In 1943, Dennis escaped with a fellow comrade and spent 6 months living in an Italian mountain village, sheltered by locals until recapture.   Dennis wrote a charming  novella, ( Soft Peach in a Hard Can), which is a frank and funny memoir of the time from when he enlisted in the army, until recapture in the mountain village in Italy. After this recapture, Dennis was transported on foot across the Brennar Pass to Germany and eventually to the working camp, Staleg 8C,in Poland.  Liberated by Americans and demobilised in 1946, Dennis was convinced that he wanted to fulfill his potential as an artist.  It was this blossoming talent that kept him in small items of comfort during the war. He often drew pictures of prison guards sweethearts from their photographs to gain a scrap of food or half a cigarette.

After the war, Dennis enrolled at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts.  It was here that he was taught and influenced by teachers who were the leading members of the pre-war Euston School of painting, (William Coldstream, Victor Passmore, John Minton, W.T Monington).

It was during this time that Dennis met the young and beautiful painter from Northern Ireland, Jean Meikle, who had been a protege of the painter Paul Nietsche.  At Camberwell from 1948, she was very much under the influence of John Minton, but was living in penury in London until Dennis took her under his wing.  Their shared passion led to a happy partnership and marriage.   The couple moved to Canada in 1952, just after Dennis had spent a year living in Donegal.  During this time he was offered accommodation at Glenveagh Castle in the gate lodge by the owner, Henry Plumer McIlhenny, and painted a large mural in the parochial hall in Milford, near Letterkenny.

In Canada the couple painted and built up their reputations.  However Jean's health started to fail and they returned to N.Ireland in 1959 with their infant daughter Moya.  During the ensuing 6 years and with Jean's terminal illness diagnosed, Dennis began his long association with Lisburn, Co Antrim, both teaching art and painting,  ( see Irish Linen Centre and Museum Dennis H Osborne Artist: An appreciation).

In 1965 Jean died and was robbed of the wider recognition that Dennis felt she deserved.

Dennis stopped painting just short of his 90th birthday but never lost his capacity to captivate his devoted family and close friends with tales from his long and remarkable life.  His second wife, Maureen, predeceased him in 2014 and he died on 10 May 2016 in Movilla Nursing Home, Newtownards. Today his many paintings are held in Public Collections and private collections and galleries. 

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