FRONT LINE NAVAL CHAPLAINS

The Kit Tanner painting project.

Kit Tanner was a Gloucester, Barbarians and England Rugby Union international, winning five caps between 1930 and 1932. In June 1940 he became a Royal Navy Chaplain. He was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal for rescuing around 30 of his fellow crewmembers in the Second World War when HMS Fiji was sunk during the Battle of Crete in May 1941. Kit Tanner died of exhaustion after saving the last survivor of the sinking. 

Front Line Naval Chaplains is commissioning world renowned artist Geoff Hunt to create a signature painting to commemorate Kit Tanner’s bravery and self-sacrifice.  This eye-catching painting will highlight the exceptional nature of Kit Tanner's actions; encourage today’s chaplains to exercise the highest degree of ministry to their people, and inspire Service personnel to expect the greatest measure of self-sacrificial service from their chaplains.