DARWEN’S finest artist, James Hargreaves Morton, would have been acknowledged far and wide if only he had come through the horrors of the Great War.

He was just becoming known in the art world and looked set for a stellar career when he was swept up, at the age of 35, into the maelstrom of the conflict that took millions of lives including – just days from the Armistice – his own.

Today, his paintings sell for hundreds; had his promise been realised they would be going for thousands.

Occasionally, a Morton original pops up at auction; now and again one appears in the most unlikely of places.

A few weeks ago, a Carlisle chap, was rummaging through a local charity shop and came across a sketch of an old farm in trees, brightened by a touch of crayon. It was signed “J H Morton 1918”. He bought it for £2.

A good bit of digging led him to Darwen social media site Bygone Days.

“I’ve done this before with unusual finds and you can’t beat a bit of local knowledge,” said Gary Johnston, a former BBC film director. He was put in touch with journalist Harold Heys who had written a glossy biography of Morton a few years ago.

In minutes he had confirmed its authenticity and explained exactly where and when it had been drawn.

There were three similar sketches in the Morton book, all drawn in the spring of 1918 around Cayeux-sur-Mer and Le Catoy in the rustic Seine estuary north-west of Amiens where he was helping to train newly-arrived American troops.

His artistic talent came to the notice of his commanding officer, Colonel Hector F Whitehead who asked the previous CO of the 2/5th East Lancashires, Col Austin T. Porritt, who had been invalided home to Ramsbottom, to ask him to send out paper, pencils and crayons for Morton – “a capital artist.”

Morton was soon in the thick of the action and was shot during the German retreat back over the Somme killing fields in early November.

He had given the sketches to Col Whitehead and most of them were passed on to the infantry museum in Preston.

He had also left hundreds of paintings in the care of his four sisters in Darwen, promising to come back for them. But he never did.

They were sold at a large auction in 1971 after the death of his last surviving sister, Alice.

Several examples of his work are on display in Darwen Library.

Says Gary: “I hope one day to be able to exhibit my Morton sketch in Darwen. It would be nice to return it to his home town. It may have been the last sketch he ever did.”