Walter Lindrum OBE c. 1932
by Will Longstaff (1879-1953)
oil on canvas
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L. Gordon Darling AC CMG 2006

Walter Lindrum CBE (1898-1960), billiard player, was born into a billiard-mad family in Kalgoorlie, WA, where his father ran a billiard hall and bookmaking business.  In 1912 the family moved to Melbourne, where they were to operate the Lindrum billiard hall until 1943.  Walter and his brother were coached by their father, who, according to Walter, was the best billiard player in the pre-World War I world.  After his brother’s brilliant career petered out, Walter emerged as the pre-eminent player.  In 1929 he went to England, where he quickly established himself as the greatest the world had seen. He made his largest competitive break, of 4 137, in 1932.  The 1930s were his peak years; he won the world billiards championship in 1933 and retained the title throughout the decade.  In the 1940s, he abandoned competitive play.  The author of several books on billiards, in his later years he applied himself to raising funds for Melbourne charities.

Will Longstaff grew up in Ballarat, where he studied art at the School of Mines before embarking for the South African War.  Proceeding to Europe, he attended art school in London.  He joined the Australian Imperial Force in 1915, serving in Egypt before being invalided to England, where he was appointed a war artist and worked in camouflage and the Australian War Records Section.  His best-known painting, Menin Gate at Midnight (1927) is one of the iconic works of the Australian War Memorial.   A resident of England for the rest of his life, Longstaff undertook many portrait commissions.

Longstaff is thought to have painted Lindrum in London in 1932, the year he made his record break.