Charles Cundall was born in Stretford in Lancashire and attended Manchester School of Art. He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War, in which he served. He returned to the Royal College and later studied at the Slade School of Art, also in London. During the Second World War he was an Official War Artist to the Royal Navy and Air Force. He was elected a member of the New English Art Club in 1924 and a Royal Academician in 1944.
