Captain Charles Moxon Quiller Orchardson M.C., was born on 24 December 1873 in Kensington, the eldest of the seven children of Sir William Quiller Orchardson (1832-1910) and Lady Ellen Orchardson née Moxon (1853-1917). His father was an artist who In 1868 had been elected as Associate of the Royal Academy.
The 1881 census shows him as a scholar boarding at Dunalstair Lodge, Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, a school that was run by Miss Laura M. White and in the 1891 census he was shown as a student living at 'Beechcliff', Sea Road, Westgate-on-Sea, the home of his widowed maternal grandmother, Fanny Jane Moxon (1833-1914), his architect uncle Charles Frederick Moxon (1853-1931), his brother Ian Quiller Orchardson (1883-1956) and a cousin Fanny Lowater (1863-1957), together with a cook, a housemaid and a parlour-maid.
He was a Royal Academy Schools student from 24 January 1893 to January 1898 and in 1895 he married Grace Snell. The marriage was registered in the 4th quarter of 1895 in the Pancras registration district and they had two children: Kathleen Sheila Lilian Quiller Orchardson (1900-1919) and Nancy Sylvia N. Quiller Orchardson (b.1906).
The 1901 census shows him as an artist living at 54 Parkhill Road, Hampstead, with his wife, their daughter Kathleen together with a female general domestic servant and the 1902 Post Office London Directory confirms his address as 54 Parkhill Road, Haverstock Hill. Electoral registers for 1902 also lists him at this address but the registers for 1903 show him also at 86 Fellows Road, Hampstead. The 1910 edition of the Post Office London Directory lists him at 7a Elm Tree Road, St John's Wood and Orchardson, Walenn & Walker Art Studios are also shown at 7 Elm Tree Walk, St John's Wood.
In the 1911 census his occupation was recorded as an artist (painter) and he was living at 15 Edith Villas, West Kensington, with his wife, his daughter Nancy and a female domestic servant. In Kelly's 1915 Directory of Kensington he is shown a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters at 1,2,3,4,5 & 6 Stratford Studios, Stratford Road, Kensington.
At the outbreak of World War One he enlisted in the 1st County of London Yeomanry (Middlesex, Duke of Cambridge's Hussars), service number 3471 and was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. He was subsequently commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and later gained promotion to the rank of Captain. He entered Egypt on 28 April 1915 and became part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force on its formation on 16 March 1916. In the London Gazette supplement dated 25 November 1916 he is shown as a Second Lieutenant and was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in action. The citation read that he guided his detachment by night, taking and destroying an enemy encampment which threatened the flank of the column. His special knowledge of the locality was of great value.
Attached to the 9th Battalion, Imperial Camel Corps, he died of wounds, aged 43 years, on 26 April 1917 and was buried in Plot J, Grave 15, in the Port Said War Memorial Cemetery, Al Zehour, Port Fouad City, Port Said Governorate, Egypt. Probate records confirm his address to have been 6 Stratford Studios, Kensington and when administration with a will was granted to his widow on 30 August 1917 his estate was valued at £1,302-14s-6d. His army effects totalling £180-13s-5d were sent to his widow on 25 October 1917 and she was also sent his £5-0s-0d war gratuity on 10 February 1920.
Having been Mentioned in Despatches, when he was posthumously awarded the 1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal he also received the Oak Leaf emblem for attachment to his Victory Medal. These were sent to his widow in 1922 to her home at 28 Thames Street, Sunbury, Middlesex.
He is commemorated as C. M. Q. Orchardson on the Royal Academy war memorial at Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1 and as C. M. Q. Orchardson, Captain on the Imperial Camel Corps war memorial in Victoria Embankment Gardens, WC2. He is also commemorated on the gravestone of his parents in Margate Cemetery, Manston Rd, Margate CT9 4LY.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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