John Bonar Dunlop (abt. 1916 - abt. 1992)

Born about 1916 in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

Ancestors

Died about 1992 at about age 76 in Sussex, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Bonar Dunlop is Notable.

John was born in about 1916 at or about Dunedin in New Zealand. He was the son of Presbyterian Minister Francis Dunlop and his wife Maud and the brother of renowned New Zealand born dancer Shona Dunlop MacTavish MBE. Going to school in Vienna in the mid-1930s and later in London where he studied at the Royal Academy Schools, John Dunlop won a prestigious Landseer Scholarship.

John Bonar Dunlop ARBS was a New Zealand born artist, sculptor, and illustrator who excelled at figurative work. He became mainly known for his sculptures of New Zealand and Welsh rugby players. He was an Associate of the Royal British Society of Sculptors (ARBS) and the sitter for Arthur J Murch's winning Archibald Prize entry of 1949. At the time Dunlop was a sculpture student of Murch's at the East Sydney Technical College in New South Wales Australia, which is now the National Art School.

In 1946, after the Second World War where Dunlop had been a RAF pilot in North Africa, John Bonar Dunlop moved to Sydney, New South Wales in Australia. Ostensibly to join some of his family, presumably his sister who was working there at the time with Gertrud Bodenwieser. But he took the time to attended the East Sydney Technical College to study sculpture while there. It was also in Sydney in 1947, that he married his teenage sweetheart from his time in Vienna, Miss Hilary Lennox Napier, an English dancer from the same dance troupe as his sister: The Bodenwieser Ballet, They were married at St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the 3rd of June, 1947.

From an email from his daughter Fiona we see the following:

Bonar had another sibling: Wallace Dunlop.

Bonar and Hillary Dunlop had 2 children: Logan Napier Dunlop and Fiona Fay Dunlop.

Bonar had become involved in World War II a little earlier than I originally thought: as he volunteered to help the Fins against the Soviet invasion, then became stranded in Sweden.

It was later on his returning to England, that Bonar joined the Royal Air Force. Firstly training in South Africa and then flying as a pilot in Coastal Command over the Mediterranean.

From 1947 the young married couple lived in Palm Beach and Whales Beach in New south Wales until 1959, when the whole family moved to London.

John Bonar Dunlop passed away on his 76th birthday in 1992 at his Sussex England home.

Sources

• Bonar Dunlop from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. first accessed online on the 6th of January, 2022 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonar_Dunlop

• New Zealand Births, Deaths & Marriages. BIRTH: registration no. 1916/28313 - Dunlop, John Bonar - mother: Maud - father: Francis Wallace. first accessed from the New Zealand Government's Birth, Death and Marriage Historical Records online on the 6th of January, 2022 at: https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/

• New South Wales Births, Deaths & Marriages: registration no. 8248/1947 - groom: DUNLOP, JOHN BONAR - bride: NAPIER, HILARY LENNOX - district: SYDNEY. from the NSW Family History Search first accessed online on the 6th of January, 2022 at: https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search/marriages?

• Arthur J Murch Bonar Dunlop oil on canvas 104 x 74 cm. first accessed online from the ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES website on the 6th of January 2022 at: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/1949/17671/

• Sculptor And Ballet Dancer Wed At St. Andrew's Cathedral first published in the Women's News in The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954) of Wednesday 4 June 1947, Page 15. first accessed on TROVE on the 6th of January, 2021 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248480090?

• Personal email from Fiona Dunlop dated 3rd of August, 2023

Further Reading

• Collins, Miles, 2012, The Art of Romance Part One original hosted on RETRO now archived since 2017 at: https://web.archive.org/web/20170409111231/http://www.milescollins.com/wordpress/the-art-of-romance-part-one first accessed online on the 6th of January 2022.

• Gareth Edwards 1947 - Welsh Rugby Lion Rugby Union a Bronze sculpture by Bonar Dunlop dated 1982, standing at the Saint David's Shopping Centre, Cardiff. on the IMMORTALS OF BRITISH SPORT website. first accessed online on the 6th of January 2022 at: http://www.immortalsofbritishsport.com/1970-1979/gareth-edwards/

• $3 million plus for a rock cabin by JONATHAN CHANCELLOR NOV 22, 2010. from the DOMAIN website. first accessed online on the 6th of January 2022 at: https://www.domain.com.au/news/3-million-plus-for-a-rock-cabin-20101122-183z0/

• Weight Of Numbers Tells from The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954) of Saturday 2 March 1940, Page 17. first accessed on TROVE on the 6th of January, 2021 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/41654657?searchTerm=%22John%20Bonar%20Dunlop%22

• Sydney's Talking About— in The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) of Thursday 15 May 1947, Page 12. first accessed on TROVE on the 6th of January, 2021 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18026410?searchTerm=%22John%20Bonar%20Dunlop%22

• SANDRA'S Weekend DIARY in The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954) of Sunday 25 May 1947, Page 47. first accessed on TROVE on the 6th of January, 2021 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248483893?searchTerm=%22John%20Bonar%20Dunlop%22