Tom Purvis was born in Bristol in 1888, the son of the sailor and marine artist, T.G. Purvis (1861-1933). After leaving school he attended Camberwell College of Art in London for 3 ½ years, during this time he studied under both Sickert and Degas. After leaving art college Purvis began working for the advertising agency Mather and Crowther however little of his work from this time has survived/has been identified. Purvis left Mather and Crowther after 6 years and began working freelance for Avenue Press, whose facilities he used in his spare time in order to master the art of lithographic printing, which defined much of his poster work. Purvis was widely known as one of the most important English poster artists of his day, recognisable for his simplified, symbolic, two-dimensional and colourful style of printing. He is probably best known for his work with Austin Reed and the LNER, for whom he produced over 100 posters from 1923-1945. During his time collaborating with the LNER and Austin Reed Purvis created posters and magazine/newspaper advertisements for other company’s including: Aquascutum, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Bovril, The British Industries Fair (B.I.F.), Colgate, The Daily Herald and Shell. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he contributed to various publications through freelance work with Odhams Press, illustrating stories and front covers for titles including: 20 Story Magazine, The London Magazine, Modern Man, PAN, Passing Show Magazine, and Punch. The style Purvis employed for this work is often significantly more naturalistic than that seen in his poster work. During the Second World War Purvis was also an official poster artist for the Ministry of Supply. During his career Purvis lobbied for the professionalisation of commercial art. He publicised his views concerning what he perceived as a lack of practical training for commercial artists through articles and lectures. In 1930 Purvis joined the Society of Industrial Artists and in 1936 he became one of the first designers to be made a Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts. After the Second World War Purvis withdrew from commercial art however he continued to work with Blackpool Pleasure Beach until his death in 1959, alongside undertaking commissioned portrait work. In his later years (c.1950s) Purvis converted to Catholicism and focussed on religious paintings. According to notes probabaly provided by Teddy Trimmer, Purvis' step-son Purvis' nickname was Brumas. It is taken from the name of the first polar bear to be born in England in 1949, which was a media sensation at the time.

Jane Purvis was Tom Purvis' widow

The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was one of the four railway companies that were formed in 1923 due to the amalgamation of 1921. During the First World War the government had taken control of the railways for the purpose of the war effort. After the war ended it was decided that the railway companies could not competitively return to their prior state, and so the decision was made to combine the 120 existing railway companies into four companies, which became known as ‘the big four’. Smaller railway companies were merged together to form LNER, these previous companies consisted of; Great Central Railway, Great Eastern Railway, Great Northern Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway, Hull and Barnsley Railway, North British Railway and the North Eastern Railway. LNER was the second largest company of the ‘Big Four’ in terms of route miles (total route mileage amounted to 6700) and became famous for its prestigious high speed trains, including the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard, which reached speeds of 126mph (breaking the world record for steam). William Whitelaw, who was a public figure in Scotland, was appointed the first chairman of LNER operating mainly from the London headquarters. The management of LNER was decentralised as much as possible and one of Whitelaw’s main responsibilities became scrutinising proposals of expenditure, due to the shortage of investments. It was decided that the head of management should be Sir Lewis Wedgewood and it was under his management that three main headquarters should be created to best oversee the company. These areas were; Southern, North-Eastern, with offices being situated in York, and Scotland, which was then divided into Northern and Southern Scotland. By 1928 organisation in LNER had stabilised with the chairman being based in Marylebone, Chief General Manager being based in Kings Cross and the Southern headquarters being based in Liverpool. Sir Nigel Gresley became the first Chief Mechanical Engineer of the company. Each of the big four had a Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineering department which was formed in 1923 with the creation of each company and after nationalisation in 1948, one CM&EE department was created. Gresley became very influential in the company, not only due to his designs of the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard, but also his Pacific designs and long-distance locomotives with the ability to overcome difficult operating conditions. Gresley died in office in 1941 and was succeeded by Edward Thompson, who remained CME until 1946. Arthur Peppercorn, a student of Gresley’s, succeeded Thompson but remained CME for just 18 months, as nationalisation cut short his career. After the Second World War all four railway companies were in financial trouble. The growth of road transport and the effects of the war had meant that each company was in need of severe maintenance work (LMS calculated it would have to spend £40 million on maintenance). Investors of the railways were also at a loss, the LNER’s investors had received no dividend since 1941. With the arrival of a new labour government in 1945, the decision to nationalise all public transport was put forward and in 1948 the ‘Big Four’ were replaced with the British Transport Commission, which separated LNER into Eastern and North Eastern Regions, as well as surrendering the Scottish territory.