STONE, Reynolds

Reynolds Stone (1909-1979) was born at Eton in 1909 and read history at Magdalene College Cambridge. At the Cambridge University Press he began experimenting with engraving on metal and wood. He met Eric Gill on a train, who invited him to stay at Pigotts. He left after two weeks, having engraved an alphabet under Gill’s supervision, who felt that at this point he had nothing further to teach him. Among many commissions he engraved his first Royal bookplate for Elizabeth of York (the Queen Mother). In 1937 he engraved a Royal Coat of Arms for the coronation of King George VI. He began to cut letters in stone. During the Second World War he worked as an aerial photographic interpreter for the RAF, and continued to engrave. In 1953 they moved to The Old Rectory at Litton Cheney in Dorset, which was to be his home for the rest of his life. The garden and surrounding landscape proved to be a fertile source of inspiration for his painting and engraving. He designed the £5 (1962) and £10 notes (1964) which were in use until decimalisation. He cut many important memorials in stone and slate, including those for Winston Churchill, Ralph Vaughan Williams and T S Eliot. His magnum opus is perhaps the set of engravings, ‘The Old Rectory’, which was published in 1976 by Warren Editions. He died in 1979. He was awarded the CBE in 1953, and was made an RDI (Royal Designer for Industry) in 1956.