The Downs Malvern has loaned an oil painting from its own rich art collection to a series of prestigious exhibitions celebrating the life and work of the pioneering mountaineer, surgeon, missionary, and artist T. H. Somervell OBE, FRCS.
‘Kangchenjunga seen from Darjeeling, India’, painted in 1939, has been selected for inclusion in Before and After Everest – A Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by T. Howard Somervell (1890–1975). The work was gifted to The Downs shortly after its completion, during the time when Somervell’s two sons were pupils at the school and his cousin, Geoffrey Hoyland, was Headmaster.
The painting depicts the dramatic Kangchenjunga massif in the eastern Himalayas, with its sweeping summits of Jannu, Kabru, Talung Peak, Kangchenjunga, and Pandim.
Somervell himself lived an extraordinary life. A military surgeon during the First World War, he went on to join two pioneering Everest expeditions in the 1920s, achieving a world altitude record at the time. He was awarded an Olympic medal for mountaineering and later dedicated four decades of his life to serving others as a medical missionary at Neyyoor Hospital in Tamil Nadu, India. Alongside these achievements, he remained a prolific artist, contributing to numerous exhibitions throughout his lifetime.
The current exhibitions mark fifty years since Somervell’s death and have been coordinated by his grandson, Tom Somervell. The Downs Malvern’s painting features in the official exhibition catalogue, accompanied by explanatory notes. The catalogue also includes another work with strong links to the school: ‘The Aguille du Grepon, Chamonix’, which was displayed in the Old Library for many decades before returning to the Hoyland family in 2020.
Exhibition details
- 24 June – 20 July 2025: The Alpine Club, London
- 4 September – 5 October 2025: John Mitchell Fine Paintings, London
- 15 October – 23 November 2025: Archive Gallery, Heaton-Cooper Studio, Grasmere, Cumbria
In addition, a comprehensive new biography, First on Everest: The Life of Howard Somervell by Graham Hoyland, was published in May 2025 by The History Press, offering fresh insight into his remarkable story.
The Downs Malvern is proud that its collection is helping to illuminate the life and legacy of such an inspiring figure.
