Painter, especially of landscape, and actor, born in Upton Park, Essex (his adopted name combined that of his father, Robert Elliott, with his mother’s, Harriet Seabrooke). Seabrooke studied at Slade School of Fine Art, 1906–11, with Henry Tonks, then took a remote shed in Westmorland for £2 a year as a studio, putting in his own windows, door and chimney. In World War I Seabrooke – a pacifist – served in the British Red Cross, won Italy’s highest award for gallantry and was an Official War Artist on the Italian front. He was tall and handsome, with a fine singing voice, which led to a thespian career. Did much work with the directors Theodore Komisarjevsky and J B Fagan, and acted with John Gielgud, Lewis Casson, Sybil Thorndike, Wendy Hiller, Charles Laughton and Ralph Richardson.

Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)


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