Tim Manly’s portrait

It has long been a Hurst tradition for retiring Headmasters to have their portraits painted and OJs will recall sitting in the Dining Hall during their days at Hurst surrounded by the paintings of former Heads of the College.

When the time came for Tim Manly to have his portrait done, he was keen to do something a little different. His view was that the successes of the school could not solely be attributed to him alone. As a result, his portrait portrays not only him, but the two Chairmen of Governors with whom he had worked so closely during his tenure. The current Chairman, Tony Jarvis, is on the left in the picture, with Admiral Simon Moore, on the right. The portrait shows the three gentlemen in the Head’s study, sitting on the window seat there, and was painted during the Summer of 2023 by artist Mark Roscoe, a British artist and portrait painter best known for his traditional paintings of business leaders and heads of London, Oxford and Cambridge colleges.

Those of you with a particularly eagle eye will note that the background in the picture is actually not true to life. Instead of painting the view immediately outside the Head’s study, it was decided to bring the South Downs, bringing them a little nearer, and to paint the vista of Wolstonbury Hill. A very appropriate decision I am sure you will agree.

Mark Roscoe was born in Australia but raised in the UK to British parents. He went on to study fine art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. During his final year, a self-portrait was successfully exhibited in the 1998 BP Portrait Awards and it was chosen to advertise the exhibition nationwide. This exposure/lucky break established his reputation for being a portrait painter and commissions start coming in. Since then, he has completed over 200 portraits for a variety of private clients, large companies and institutions.

Unveiled at his farewell dinner with Governors in December 2023, the picture now hangs in the New Bury Theatre and can be viewed by OJs on Saturday 19 October at the 175th Anniversary Reunion.