Julia was seeking confirmation that he taught at the College, and the Brightonian magazine, as it often does, provided us with the proof. It seems Hubert had rather a positive impact on art at the College:
{gallery}Old Brighton 1939{/gallery}
He was also quite a character! His description on the National Portrait Gallery’s website is brilliant:
During the tourist season he worked in the Silhouette Studio, and in the winter he put on entertainments in schools. His act combined sketching, elocution, juggling, mental telepathy, songs and mental feats. A highlight was his rendition of "S-s-sylvia's S-s-silhouette", a 1,300 word story, of which every single word begins with the letter "S", while he was cutting a silhouette of ‘Sylvia’.’
I can certainly see how he captured the boys’ imaginations.
The National Portrait Gallery have just started a crowd-sourcing project to learn more about Hubert Leslie’s Silhouettes. If you’d like to help out, more details can be found here >>