Richard Ryder Airey
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Share thisRichard Ryder Airey
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate film negative, 17 January 1939
Given by Bassano & Vandyk Studios, 1974
Photographs Collection
NPG x156045
Artistback to top
- Bassano Ltd (active 1901-1962), Photographers. Artist associated with 42745 portraits.
Placesback to top
- Place made: United Kingdom: England, London (photographer's studio, 38 Dover Street, London)
Events of 1939back to top
Current affairs
Britain goes to war. The German invasion of Poland demonstrated that the policy of appeasement had failed. After refusing to meet Britain's ultimatum to withdraw troops, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second World War had begun.Art and science
The Sutton Hoo burial ship is discovered. Apparently following a dream, Mrs Pretty invited the archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate a series of burial mounds on her estate on the banks of the river Deben in Suffolk. The excavation revealed an Anglo-Saxon burial, uncovering the most significant horde of early medieval artefacts found in Britain (now housed at the British Museum).International
The Second World War begins. Germany's invasion of Poland prompted Britain and France to declare war forming the core of the Allied powers. As part of the Soviet-Nazi Pact, the Soviet Union joined the war on the German side, helping, with Italy, to form the Axis Powers. Poland was soon overpowered and the Baltic Republics and Finland were invaded by the Soviet Union.Tell us more back to top
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Jonathan Brown
23 June 2017, 00:36
This is a photograph of Commander Richard Ryder Airey, R.N., the son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Airey of Oakdene, Billingshurst, Surrey. He was reported missing in April 1941 and was presumed to have lost his life. His brother, George Ryder Airey, had been killed in the First World War.