Charles Ambrose

1876 - 1946

Charles Napier Ambrose was born in Devizes, the son of a surgeon in the army. He lived in Wimbledon until his marriage to Lina Flemmick of Roehampton in 1911. After their marriage they lived in the vicinity of Worplesdon. He had no other profession than as an illustrator for sporting magazines (mainly golf) and golfing journalist. Ambrose served in the West Yorkshire Regiment in the First World War and attained the rank of Captain and he seems to have been known as 'Captain Ambrose' thereafter. He spent a lot of time painting and drawing but it is not known whether he ever attended an Art School. It is thought that he did some of his drawings and paintings from photographs, but a lot of his work was clearly done from life. He had a great ability to 'strike a likeness'; as a result he has left a series of portraits, mainly of golfers, but his work also included tennis, badminton, squash, cricket, rugby, hockey, polo, croquet and racquets players. He did not use much colour in his work and his portraits were mainly pen and ink and colour washes. Research in various books devoted to lists of magazine illustrators fails to show his name and his work seems to have been largely ignored. As a result he is not generally known and it is not until one collects together all his work that he can be appreciated as a prolific artist who produced portraits of many sporting personalities of his ... show more

Charles Napier Ambrose was born in Devizes, the son of a surgeon in the army. He lived in Wimbledon until his marriage to Lina Flemmick of Roehampton in 1911. After their marriage they lived in the vicinity of Worplesdon. He had no other profession than as an illustrator for sporting magazines (mainly golf) and golfing journalist. Ambrose served in the West Yorkshire Regiment in the First World War and attained the rank of Captain and he seems to have been known as 'Captain Ambrose' thereafter. He spent a lot of time painting and drawing but it is not known whether he ever attended an Art School. It is thought that he did some of his drawings and paintings from photographs, but a lot of his work was clearly done from life. He had a great ability to 'strike a likeness'; as a result he has left a series of portraits, mainly of golfers, but his work also included tennis, badminton, squash, cricket, rugby, hockey, polo, croquet and racquets players. He did not use much colour in his work and his portraits were mainly pen and ink and colour washes. Research in various books devoted to lists of magazine illustrators fails to show his name and his work seems to have been largely ignored. As a result he is not generally known and it is not until one collects together all his work that he can be appreciated as a prolific artist who produced portraits of many sporting personalities of his

time. Ambrose's early work covered tennis, his first sporting preoccupation. In 1906 he drew a series of cartoons of prominent tennis players, both men and women, which were published in Lawn Tennis and Badminton Magazine. The portraits were executed in white chalk and pen and ink on a green background and are very effective. They were accompanied by a brief note introducing the player and included such names as Lawrence Doherty, Tony Wilding and Blanche Hillyard - all Wimbledon champions. In 1907, Lawn Tennis and Badminton Magazine published an article about GW Vidal who was the Hon Secretary, then the Treasurer of the Badminton Association from 1899 - 1906 and was made Vice-President in 1907, the year of his death. The article described the early development of the game and was accompanied by an Ambrose cartoon that has been enlarged and is now on display in the Museum at Milton Keynes. He made a series of cartoons of many of the early badminton players.
At this time Ambrose commenced illustrations for the golfing pages of Country Life and Fry's Magazine. His illustrations in Country Life were prolific from 1909 - 1911 in conjunction with Horace Hutchinson's column On the Green, a unique forum in which he discussed the development of courses and promoted the work of budding architects. Fellow contributors included a great collection of writers and expert players, including Bernard Darwin, James Braid, Herbert Fowler and Harry Colt. Later Ambrose's work also appeared in other magazines such as the Tatler, The Field, Golf Illustrated, Golf Monthly, Sporting and Dramatic News and Bystander. In addition to his artistic work for these magazines Ambrose produced 109 line drawings for a charming book written by Eleanor Helme called After the Ball - Memoirs of a Golfer, and line drawings for a children's book by the same author called Roddy and Scuttle. Eleanor Helme (1887 - 1967) was an author and distinguished journalist covering women's golf for The Yorkshire Post, The Morning Post and The Daily Telegraph. She played for England and with TA Torrance beat both Wethereds in the inaugural Worplesdon Open Mixed Foursomes in 1921. A number of early prints hang around the walls above the lockers at Royal St George's. They include several colour prints of early champions by Charles Ambrose, as originally published by The Field, and depict Vardon, Duncan, Taylor and the amateurs Hilton, Hutchinson and Low, nearly all of whom had successful connections with Sandwich. In Duncan's case he won the Open in 1920 at nearby Deal, and was runner up at Royal St George's in 1922. Taylor (1894) and Vardon (1899 and 1911) were of course both Open Champions at Sandwich, and Hilton won the Amateur there in 1900 having been runner - up in 1892 and 1896. Hutchinson was twice a semi-finalist in 1896 and 1904.
Charles Ambrose was one of the central figures at Worplesdon Golf Club between the wars. He made a great contribution to the Club as a member, player, Captain, Secretary and even as a paid course supervisor. Much of his life was taken up with the business of the Club, but he also made a considerable impact on the wider golfing world through his works as a journalist and illustrator. In 1933 the Prince of Wales accepted the captaincy of Worplesdon Golf Club. In the previous year the Prince had agreed to let Charles Ambrose draw him, allowing three sittings; the original cartoon was said to have been presented to the Club.
Ambrose wrote regularly for Golf Illustrated from about 1926 to 1938 and during that time he and George Hillyard (a founder member of West Sussex Golf Club at Pulborough and an old Wimbledon friend of his) ran a weekly competition in which readers were asked to design a hole over terrain as laid out in a line sketch by Ambrose and Hillyard; the winning designer received a prize.
In 1911 when WG Tarrant, a prolific builder of houses in Surrey purchased 964 acres of land on St George's Hill, he knew little about golf and nothing at all about creating a golf course. He talked about his plans for St Georges Hill to Charles Ambrose, who was his good friend. Ambrose wrote later in Golf Illustrated: Tarrant enquired what I thought about his idea that twenty intending residents should be invited each to lay out a hole! To this I replied I thought eighteen might prove a better number, but why not consult a good golf architect and get the job done properly. Out came his note-book. Had he heard me right? Did I say golf architect? Would I kindly give the name of one? 'Of course' I said, 'Harry Colt', and thus the famous St George's Hill course was born.
Charles Ambrose will always be remembered amongst the golf memorabilia collecting fraternity as the consummate caricaturist of prominent golf personalities of the early twentieth century.
Adapted from an article in 'Through The Green' (September 2012) by Robert Ruddell, who reviews the contribution to the heritage of golf by Charles Ambrose through his work as an illustrator, cartoonist and journalist.