4th Meridian Art & Auctions is delighted to present this collection of watercolours, painted by C.H. Rawson during several trips through the province during the first half of the 20th century. The watercolours presented here have never before been exhibited.   

Not a great deal is known about Charles Henry Rawson’s early life. He was born in Stayner, Ontario, in 1870, and served as a Constable in the Northwest Mounted police in Regina, Lethbridge and Dawson City between 1893 and 1901. In 1905 he married Florence May Ellis in
Vancouver and listed his profession on the certificate as artist. By 1912 he was exhibiting with the B.C. Society of Fine Arts and he continued to do this until 1943, interrupted only by World War One. 

In 1914, at the age of 44, he enlisted in the Canadian Army and was sent overseas with the 3rd Field Company, Divisional Engineers. He was wounded at the Battle of Festubert in 1915, while erecting barbed wire entanglements, and was evacuated first to England and then back to Canada.  

Rawson exhibited with the Vancouver Sketch Club until 1932, and was a founding member of the Federation of Canadian Artists in 1941. He died in Vancouver in 1948.