I’ve managed to find out a little bit more about the photographer John Everard. He was born on 28th June 1898, in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, and was christened Edward Ralph Forward. His father, originally from Devon, was a solicitor. In 1916, when Edward turned eighteen he enlisted in the British Infantry and was quickly captured, remaining a POW till the end of the Great War. He was awarded the Military Cross while with the Machine Gun Corps for his bravery at the time of his capture.
After the war, he accepted a posting in Malaysia to manage a rubber plantation for American Rubber Co. On leave in Switzerland (skiing) in 1928, he met Kathleen Stanley, from Margate, who he married later that year on June 4th. On returning to England in 1932, he became a photographer known for nudes. He adopted the nom de plume of John Everard to please his father, who was worried about the reputation of the family name. His first book Adam’s Fifth Rib was released in 1935.
Despite his age, he managed to enlist at the start of World War II as an official photographer in the RAF. I’m not clear on what rank he held: either Flying Officer or Flight Lieutenant. He survived two crashes and was demobbed in 1946 in Durban, where his wife and two children were living at the time.
He returned to photography after the war and published his last book, Model in Shadow, in 1965. Apparently, he was passionate about caravanning. I’m led to believe he died of cancer in December 1964.
