Louis Wain Fact #67:
At least one person was named after Wain; in 1933 when Louis Wain of Skegness, England was in court charged with an unlicensed motorcycle, the chairman interrupted the proceedings to ask him about cats. To which the defendant claimed the artist was merely his namesake.
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On loan from the Bethlem Royal Hospital, catalogued by Patricia Allderidge.
108. GINGER CAT
Coloured pencil on paper
Inscribed on verso: F. Deuxbery, Mr. Louis Wain. Sept 1931
Date: September 1931
10" x 7"
The Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital Health Authority (Guttman-Maclay Collection)
This picture was drawn at Napsbury Hospital where the previous owner, Mr Deuxbery, was one of the nurses who looked after Wain. The background is presumably an example of the 'wallpaper patterns', so-called by the staff of Napsbury: in the early 30s Wain is said to have stopped drawing cats at all for a while, and drawn only these patterns, though he soon returned to cats.