26th August 1966

Artist Edmund Blampied dies

Edmund Blampied never met his father, John, who died five days before his birth in St Martin. Thus, he was forever to be the youngest offspring within the family – and soon became the most famous.

Aged 16, he sketched some scenes of an agricultural show, which sketches attracted the attention of a local art teacher who offered him lessons. The following year he travelled to London on an art school scholarship. Less than two years after arriving in London, he was asked by The Daily Chronicle to provide to provide illustrations for publication and his future was sealed.

Small exhibition

Over the next few years, his work began appearing in a wider range of magazines and, eventually, books, before he was offered a small exhibition. He secured an agent whom he eventually married and returned to Jersey at the height of the First World War, where he joined the Royal Jersey Militia. He came back to London after the war but returned to Jersey in advance of the Occupation, and stayed there, even though a German invasion was imminent and his wife was Jewish.

He was one of a handful of artists commissioned by the occupying forces to design new currency to be used on the island. His task was to produce the 6d note. Rather than using the numeral ‘6’, Blampied opted for a large ‘SIX’ so that when the note was folded in the word would be cut in two, and the upper and lower parts of the X would each form a V for Victory.