Bexhill-on-Sea

Poster, Southern Railway, Bexhill-on-Sea, De-La-Warr Pavilion and East Parade, by Ronald Lampitt, 1947. Coloured lithograph depicting a bird's eye view of Bexhill, the pavilion and promenade with the south coast and English Channel in the background. Additional text reads "Accommodation Register free from Information Bureau (Ex20) De-la-Warr Pavilion". Text at bottom margin reads "Southern Railway Advertising; AD 5650 2000/1947. Printed in Great Britain by McCorquodale & Co. Ltd., London." Format double royal, 40 x 25 inches, 1016 x 635mm.

Southern Railway poster promoting Bexhill-on-Sea, by Ronald Lampitt, 1947. It depicts a bird's eye view of the De La Warr Pavilion and the East Parade.

Bexhill-on-Sea is a seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The London & Brighton Railway built the town's first railway, with a station that opened in 1846. The town was developed as a resort in the late nineteenth centur by the local landowner, the Earl de la Warr. The South Eastern Railway built a rival, shorter route to the town, which opened in 1901, and the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway opened a new station in 1902. These competing railways were combined to form the larger Southern Railway in 1923.

The De La Warr Pavilion, designed by the Modernist architects Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff, opened in 1935.

Ronald Lampitt was born in Worcester in 1906. He was a self-taught commercial artist and illustrator, who produced artworks for John Bull magazine, The Sunday Times, Reader's Digest and other publications. He worked on children's books in collaboration with his brother-in-law, Henry Deverson and illustrated nine Ladybird books and the magazine Look and Learn.

Lampitt produced posters and carriage prints for the Great Western, Southern and London, Midland & Scottish Railways and later for British Railways. He died in 1988.