A series of events will be running alongside the popular E. H. Shepard: Before and Beyond Winnie-the-Pooh exhibition which opened at Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock earlier this year, including a talk by James Campbell; Chairman of the Shepard Trust and author of Shepard’s War and the upcoming The Men Who Created Winnie-the-Pooh.
The talk, also titled Shepard’s War, will take place at 2pm, Saturday 29 March 2025, and will see Campbell detail the life of Ernest Howard Shepard before he drew Winnie-the-Pooh, and explore the illustrator’s experiences in the Great War.
E. H. Shepard has delighted generations of children with his charming drawings of Winnie-the-Pooh and friends. However, before the bear, he used his artistic talent to document his time in the trenches during the First World War, through a series of humorous caricatures, cartoons, and sketches.
Serving as an officer in the Royal Artillery, he fought both on the Western Front and in Italy during the First World War. Shepard was initially considered too old to join up at the outset of the war, but would cover the events of the war as it unfolded through his regular work for Punch and other publications as a political cartoonist.
However, by 1915, as the expanding conflict saw recruitment soar, he was in uniform and undertaking officer training. From his early training he illustrated comical scenes and observations from around camps and barracks, and continued to make quick sketches wherever there was time when at the frontlines.
James Campbell will expand on the artist’s story in this talk supporting the Before & Beyond exhibition at the museum this March.
Shepard’s work will continue to delight children visiting the museum starting this half term, as a series of Winnie-the-Pooh inspired activities and workshops will also take place alongside the new exhibition.
Starting on 20 February, during half-term, and continuing throughout school holidays up to the end of the summer, the museum will host Teddy Bear Tea Parties for young children alongside family craft workshops, including kite-making, crafting simple puppets, and animal-ear headbands themed around the characters from Hundred Acre Wood.
More information about each of the activities on offer is available on the museum website, as well as the ability to book spaces in advance. See www.sofo.org.uk/whats-on for the full calendar of these events and more.
E. H. Shepard: Before & Beyond Winnie-the-Pooh and its supporting events programme comes to Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in collaboration with The Shepard Trust and the Archives and Special Collections, University of Surrey.
