George Leech
Victory Procession Down The Mall, 1946

Lithograph

For Macmillan’s History Pictures, c. 1960
43 x 54 cm

This colourful lithograph depicts a momentous parade down the mall, held as part of the London Victory Celebrations of 1946 following the defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan in the Second World War. The celebrations took place in London on the 8th of June 1946, and consisted mainly of a military parade through the city and a night time fireworks display.

The parade itself assembled the Chiefs of Staff, a mechanised column stretching 4 miles long and containing more than 500 military vehicles, and a marching column headed by the flags of the Allied nations which took part in the parade, as shown in this lithograph. In this depiction, King George VI can be seen saluting, alongside his wife, Elizabeth, and their two daughters, the queen-to-be Elizabeth and Margaret.

Born in 1894, George Leech was a British painter and etcher. He studied both at the Lambeth and Putney Schools of Art and worked for some years as a magazine editor. Alongside this, he also exhibited widely, including at the Royal Academy of Art.