This portrait shows 1St Class Stoker P. County sitting at a table in the stokers mess, a cup of tea in front of him. He is resting his folded arms on the table, in three-quarter profile, not looking at the viewer. His expression is serious and his jaw is clenched, his face ashen from hard work. In the background behind him are white pipes and a large round water-tight doorway. On the right hand sleeve of his navy blue shirt is the badge signifying his position as 1st class stoker, a three-bladed propeller below a star. The portrait is signed and dated by the artist, William Dring, at the bottom right hand corner, and it is still in the original mount and frame from the War Artists Advisory Committee. [The original WAAC number is LD. 2620].

William Dring (1904-90) earned his reputation as a fine draughtsman and portrait painter whilst studying under Henry Tonks at the Slade School of Art between 1922 and 1925. He worked as a teacher of drawing and painting at the Southampton School of Art until 1940 when he was employed by the War Artist Advisory Committee, first as official war artist to the Admiralty and later to the Air Ministry. He made a large number of portrait drawings of individuals and groups, all remarkable for their informality. Dring travelled extensively to complete his commissions. The drawing is always precise and carefully modelled using pastel, a medium in which he specialised, and which allowed him to capture the likeness and spirit of his subjects quickly and under a variety of circumstances