The hero artist

Horace Jones lied about his age to go to war - but rather than appear older - he made himself 10 years younger.
Born on February 3, 1868, he was one of 10 children of engineer David Jones and teacher Sarah Ann (nee Garner) in England.
The family came to Auckland, New Zealand in 1885.
At 22 Horace married his art teacher Anne Dobson and they moved to Sydney where he changed his name to Horace Millicamp Moore-Jones.
He began to gain a profile as a portraiture and semi-allegorical artist, operating an art school with his better known wife. But she became ill with tuberculosis and died in 1901 leaving him to raise their child, two-year-old Norma.
He remarried in 1905 to Florence Mitchell and they had three more children.
He exhibited a few times but then he painted his first piece of war art - a painting of troop ships leaving Auckland for South Africa. The work was presented to the Auckland Art Gallery.
The family moved to Auckland in 1908 and he taught art before going to London to enrol in an art school there.
While in England, at the start of World War One he decided to enlist in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, but had to falsify his date of birth and dye his hair to look younger.
He started in Egypt where to his disappointment he went to the Engineers - he had wanted the infantry.
He was among the contingent who went to Gallipoli where he continued to sketch.
This came to the attention of his commanders and he was seconded to the ANZAC printing section where he made topological sketches - allowing offensive operations to be planned.
His work was sometimes done under fire with shells whistling overhead.
In November 1915 a wound to his hand stopped his sketching and he was medically evacuated to England where he began a number of watercolours based on Gallipoli.
Moore-Jones was sent back to New Zealand and medically discharged.
His paintings were exhibited and during this time he painted the image that was to make him famous - The Man with the Donkey. He painted several versions of it and in 2015 one sold for nearly half a million.
He lectured with his exhibitions and any money made went to the newly formed New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association.
He offered his works to the Government to remember New Zealand’s effort at Gallipoli but was turned down. The works instead went to the Australian government.
During a visit to Hamilton in 1918 he was offered a job as an art teacher at Hamilton High School. He took a room at the Hamilton Hotel.
Early in the morning of April 3, 1922 a fire broke out in the hotel. Moore-Jones helped evacuate it then, believing a maid was still inside, went back in to find her. He did not know she had already got out. Despite getting himself out he suffered severe burns and died in hospital.
Moore-Jones is buried at Purewa Cemetery in Auckland, along with another victim of the fire.
In 2012 a central city street in Hamilton was renamed Sapper Moore-Jones place.