'Mr Bruce Ismay at "Titanic" Inquiry', 1912

Pencil drawing by Ernest Blaikley, 1912.

Portrait in profile of Joseph Bruce Ismay (1862-1937), Chairman and Managing Director of the White Star Line which operated the RMS Titanic; on the right are two studies of men's heads, both in profile facing left.

Ismay was giving evidence at the British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry into the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912 following a collision with an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The inquiry was held at the London Scottish Drill Hall at Buckingham Gate and at the Caxton Hall from 2 May 1812 to 3 July 1912. Ismay was on board the Titanic on its fatal voyage and was among the survivors picked up by the RMS Carpathia. Over 1,500 passengers and crew died when the Titanic sank and Ismay was heavily criticised by the press in Britain and America but the British inquiry defended his actions during the disaster.

Ernest Blaikley, an accomplished artist who worked for 'Punch' and 'The Scout' magazines, served with 2/28th Battalion, London Regiment (Artists' Rifles) during World War One. He worked with Major H Hesketh-Prichard at the First Army School of Scouting, Observation and Sniping, established at Linghem in the Pas de Calais in August 1916. Blaikley made sketches at Linghem and, later in 1918 and early 1919, at the school at Senlis.