Book Review: "Images of the Great War" by Lawrence Dunn, published by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd., London, 2015

Lawrence Dunn, an artist from Sunderland, guides us through a brief history of the First World War featuring a selection of images by some of the British and Empire artists, cartoonists, poets, photographers and sculptors of the time -  paintings, drawings, illustrations and photographs, many of which are from the author's own collection.  With the skill that only an artist has, Lawrence encourages us to have a closer look at some of those works and in so doing brings the conflict to life as never before. In many instances, Lawrence also invites the reader to compare the styles of artists who have painted the same view or person.  

Lawrence includes poetry in between each artist featured, skilfully creating a bridge to the next artist. I was very pleased to see that the female poets he chose are all on my List of Female Poets of the First World War.  I have already written panels for some of the female poets from Lawrence's book, where you will find poems by: Beatrix Brice Miller who went to France in 1914 as a 'lady helper' with her mother who was a trained nurse, Jessie Pope who was a volunteer at St Dunstan's Home for the Blind (now Blind Veterans UK) and whose poetry these days I feel has been misunderstood, Lucy Foster Whitmell, Vera Brittain who was a nurse during WW1, Lady Margaret Sackville, Iris Tree, Winifred Mabel Letts who was a masseuse/physiotherapist with the Almeric Paget Unit during WW1, May Wedderburn Cannan who helped out at the Coffee Stall on Rouen station, Anna Gordon Keown, Alice Meynell, Katharine Tynan, Elinor Jenkins, Muriel Elsie Graham, May Hershel-Clarke, Mary H.J. Henderson, Eileen Newton, Emily Orr and Doprothy Una Ratcliffe.

I already knew the names of some of the WW1 artists that Lawrence has included but there were many that were new to me.  I was interested to see that Lawrence has dedicated the book to his second cousin, Corporal Michael Davison of the Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish).  Michael was an underground putter at Ryhope Colliery when he enlisted in 1914 and was killed on the first day of the Battle of Arras - Easter Monday, 9th April 1917.  My great-uncle James Yule was a Private in the Northumberland Fusiliers, 23rd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion and he too was killed on 9th April 1917, as were the poets R.E. Vernède and Edward Thomas,  

Beginning with Lady Elizabeth Butler, both male and female WW1 artists of all disciplines are represented in the book - painters, cartoonists, photographers, sculptors and so on.  But this book is not just about the artists, poets and pictures of WW1, Lawrence goes into detail about some of the battles and includes personal stories about the artists and the areas and subjects depicted.   On page 137 you will find paintings by the artist William Patrick Roberts, who was at the Battle of Arras on 9th April 1917 and is therefore of special interest to me.

If I had to choose one picture, it would be "Merry-Go-Round" by Mark Gertler - it reminds me very much of the recent commemorative WW1 painting by the artist Ruth Swartberg entitled "Faceless Riders". 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it.  "Images of the Great War" by Lawrence Dunn, published by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd., London, 2015.

For further information about the author please follow the link:  http://www.austinmacauley.com/author/dunn-lawrence

 

May Sinclair (1863 - 1946)

Mary Amelia St. Clair, who took the pen name May Sinclair, was born on 24th August 1863 in Rock Ferry on the Wirral Peninsula in the north west of England.  Her father was a wealthy shipowner.  May was educated for a while at Cheltenham Ladies College.   

When she was in her teens, May's father died and she moved to Ilford.  In 1886 she published her first volume of poetry - using the name "Julian Sinclair".  

When the First World War broke out May was a successful author, having published numerous novels and collections of stories as well as a highly respected biography of the Brontë Sisters called "The Three Brontës".  She was a keen supporter of the Suffragette movement and wrote pamphlets for the Woman Writers Suffrage League.

May joined Dr. Hector Munro's Flying Ambulance Unit as Dr. Munro's Personal Assistant and travelled to Belgium in September 1914 with the Unit, which she also helped to fund.   By then, May was 52 which in those days was 'old'.  After six weeks May returned home suffering from shell shock.  She wrote about her experiences in "A Journal of Impressions in Belgium", which was published in New York by Macmillan in 1915.

Three of May's nephews enlisted - two died and one was taken prisoner and returned home ill with pneumonia.  May nursed him back to health.

May continued writing after the war until she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in the late 1920s.  She retired to Buckinghamshire where she died on 14th November 1946.

Here is an extract from one of May's WW1 poems:

Field Ambulance in Retreat

Via Dolorosa, Via Sacra

A straight flagged road, laid on the rough earth,

A causeway of stone from beautiful city to city,

Through the flat green land, by plots of flowers, by black canals thick with heat.

The road-makers made it well

Of fine stone, strong for the feet of the oxen and of the great Flemish horses,

And for the high wagons piled with corn from the harvest,

And the labourers are few;

They and their quiet oxen stand aside and wait

By the long road loud with the passing of the guns, the rush of armoured cars

And the tramp of an army on the march forward to battle;

And, where the piled corn-wagons went, our dripping Ambulance carried home

Its red and white harvest from the fields.

From "A Journal of Impressions in Belgium".

When I began my research, May was the first Female Poet I found and I felt it appropriate to remember her on 1st May.   There is now a May Sinclair Society - www.maysinclairsociety.com - and a Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/maysinclairsociety/ dedicated to the memory of May.

Irene Butler (1901 - 1944)

Irene was born on 18th March 1901 in Wooler, Northumberland.  Her mother was descended from Count St Paul of the Austrian Empire and her paternal grandmother was Josephine Elizabeth Grey, a Victorian feminist. Irene attended Downe House School, where she was a friend of Jocelyn Ashley Dodd. 

After the war, Irene worked as private secretary to Lord Robert Cecil a former cabinet minister of the British Government.   Irene never married and died on 12th June 1944 near Chard in Somerset.

I receive quite a lot of feedback about my work.   I particularly liked the following comment from a lady called Elliott, who contacted me about Volume 1 of "Female Poets of the First World War":

"My favourite poem is "An English Victory" (on page 44) by Irene Butler who was a pupil at Downe House School during The First World War.   

One of my all-time favourite poets was Ian Curtis from the band Joy Division.  The moment I read Irene's poem it reminded me of much of Ian's work and I feel it is really something that a schoolgirl from 1914 could have such a similar style as a young man in the 1970s."

"An English Victory"

A Cavalry soldier is charging,

A Highlander runs by his side,

Both men are bent on enlarging

The gap in the hosts spreading wide.

Spreading wide in the Fair land of France

The mammoth-like hosts of the Huns,

Destroying with bayonet and lance,

With rifles and swords and with guns.

See how they fly in disorder,

Their hosts have diminished in size,

They fly as far as the border,

And vanish before our eyes.

They vanish for they are defeated,

Not a single soldier stands,

The Cavalry officer seated

On his horse, with his friend shakes hands.

Then may all the brave sons of Our Empire,

Who come from the country and street,

Desire their fame to rise higher,

And for Germany's army - defeat.

Written in Autumn 1914 by Irene Butler from Wooler, Northumberland.

With many thanks to Downe House School for permission to feature some of the poems written by pupils during the First World War in this commemorative exhibition project which is in loving memory of my Grandfather, an Old Contemptible who survived the war, and my Great Uncle, who was killed at Arras on Easter Monday, 9th April 1917 - the same day as Forgotten Poets of the First World War Edward Thomas and R.E. Vernède.

Photo:  Irene Butler

York Castle Museum Commemorative WW1 Exhibition

Many thanks to Andrew Wingrove who is writing a book about the First World War Hospital Ships of the Grand Fleet.  He visited York Castle Museum's commemorative exhibition and sent me some photos of the Female Poets of the First World War section which is in the Community Room at the museum.   Andrew tells me they have also used the recordings of poems I did for the exhibition.

To find out more about York Castle Museum's exhibition:  http://www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk/exhibition/1914-when-the-world-changed-forever/

Andrew's amazing Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hospital-Ships-Of-The-Grand-Fleet-1914-18/656242534446547?fref=ts

A poem by Nadja (Malacrida) in honour of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

For the post about Nadja Malacrida please see http://femalewarpoets.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/nadja-malacrida-1896-1934.html

"Onward"

Dedicated in sincere admiration to the Officers and Men of the 2/7 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

ONWARD to victory, on ever splendid,

Fluttering ribbons and pipes all ablaze,

Steady, unfaltering is the way wended,

Dogged, unflinching each calm, manly gaze.

On, ever on whilst the pibrochs are playing,

March to the lilt of those strains that can thrill,

Somewhere at home there are hearts that are praying,

Somewhere ahead there are hands that will kill.

On, ever onward with kilts proudly swinging,

On, ever on in that same level stride,

Songs of the Highlands and Home ye are singing

Men of her glory and Sons of her pride.

On then;  before you the colours are gleaming,

See that their honour be ever maintained,

So to all ages these words shall come streaming

'Argyll and Sutherlands, Vict'ry is gained!'

First published in Nadja Malacrida's anthology "For Empire and Other Poems", 1916, London, Arthur L. Humphreys, which was sold in aid of St. Dunstan's Home for Blind Soldiers in London and The Star and Garter Home for disabled soldiers in Richmond.

With thanks to Professor Brian Murdoch of Stirling University for bringing the long-forgotten work of Nadja Malacrida to my attention.  

International Conference on the Legacy of WW1, The Hague, The Netherlands, June 2015

News just in from Chris Spriet:  an exciting initiative is scheduled to take place in the historic city of The Hague in The Netherlands towards the end of June 2015.

An International Conference on THE LEGACY OF WORLD WAR ONE will be held from 22nd - 26th June. Participants will reflect on a wide range of subjects, exchanging and formulating thoughts and views on ways to remember the Great War today and in the years to come.

The Conference will feature a host of top specialists and authorities in several fields of research from over 20 countries worldwide.

Apart from being an occasion which offers ample opportunity for discovering new fields of research, the Conference will most certainly offer opportunities galore for finding and exchanging information on the different fields in which everyone is studying the legacy of that Tragedy of Tragedies that was and remains the First World War.

For further information and all details on the programme see: www.legacyww1.org. The e-mail address is info@legacyww1.org

Chris Spriet

(one of the) keynote speaker(s) on the Conference   

"We aged a hundred years" ('Wij warden honderd ajar outer) is the title of Chris Spriet's WW1 Anthology, which I reviewed for my weblog in November 2013 - http://femalewarpoets.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/review-of-ww1-anthology-we-aged-hundred.html

The anthology title is the first line of the poem "In Memoriam, July 19, 1914" written by Russian poet Anna Akhmatova (1899 - 1966), which is featured on page 48 of the anthology.  Opposite, on page 49, Chris has translated Anna's poem into Dutch.

Announcement: Lady Jennifer MacLellan agrees to be our Honorary President

Lady Jennifer MacLellan

It is with great pleasure that we announce that Lady Jennifer MacLellan has agreed to be the Honorary President of our Association Female Poets, Inspirational Women and Fascinating Facts of the First World War.   

Lady MacLellan is the daughter of Forgotten Poet of the First World War Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Casson (1889 - 1944) who fought in both World Wars.  She edited and published some of her father's poems in a booklet that was on sale at Craiglockhart in Edinburgh.  Dean Johnson of the Wilfred Owen Story museum in Birkenhead (Wirral Peninsula, UK) visited Craiglockart (now a campus of Edinburgh University) with "Bullets and Daffodils", his musical drama about Wilfred Owen who met Siegfried Sassoon while they were both receiving treatment at the hospital.   Knowing that I would be interested, Dean brought me a copy of Stanley Casson's poems and I contacted Lady MacLellan to ask permission to write up an exhibition panel about Lt. Col. Casson.

Lady MacLellan very kindly replied, giving me a great deal of information about her father, so we asked her if she would like to be the Association's Honorary President and are delighted to announce that she has accepted.

The Link with Rupert Brooke

After the First World War, Stanley Casson was working in Athens when he was approached by a friend at the British Legation regarding the placing of a tomb over the grave of Rupert Brooke.   Rupert Brooke was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a Sub-Lieutenant, joining the Hood Battalion, 2nd Brigade, R.N. Division.  He took part in the Royal Naval Division's expedition to Antwerp in Belgium in 1914. Rupert's Division was en route for Gallipoli in a liner operated by the Union-Castle Line called the "Grantully Castle" that had been converted into a troopship.  The flotilla of 200 odd ships that set sail from Avonmouth near Bristol in 1915 included the Dreadnought Battleship "The Prince George". The "Grantully Castle" put into Treis Bouke Bay on the Greek Island of Skyros, as the anchorage at Lemnos was already full of ships.  Skyros is to the east of the mainland of Greece and is one of the Sporades Archipelago in the Aegean Sea (sporades being Greek for "those scattered").

According to the log of the French hospital ship in which Rupert was treated, during manoeuvres on the Island of Skyros he was bitten by a mosquito and his health deteriorated considerably.  Lady MacLellan tells me that Rupert was already ill by the time he reached the Island, having been suffering from a fever and dysentery since the ships put in to Cairo in Egypt.  He was transferred by cutter to the French Naval Hospital Ship "Duguay-Trouin", a converted French Naval destroyer, for treatment but he died on 23rd April 1915. See post on www.forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.co.uk of 1st March 2015.

Under orders to depart for Gallipoli, Brooke's friends in the Division had buried him hastily in a secluded dell - an Olive grove three hundred feet above sea level, surrounded by olive trees and bordered with the lovely flowers that bloom in Greece in springtime - in which the troops had stopped to rest during their manoeuvre exercises. The ceremony was very moving with his friends from the Division present, among them Patrick Shaw-Stewart who was a member of the firing party.

Determined that he should have a proper grave after the war, Rupert's mother commissioned marble to be specially sculptured in Athens and taken to Skyros. And so it was that Casson was the man who, with his knowledge of Greek sculpture, organised and supervised the construction and transport of the two and a half tons of marble and iron railings that you will see if you visit Brooke's grave today.

The logistics of the operation are quite remarkable and are detailed in a book called "Steady Drummer" written by Stanley Casson and published in 1935 by G. Bell of London.   Lady MacLellan has kindly sent me a copy of the section concerning the grave of Rupert Brooke.  Casson had to hire a boat to transport the marble, then get to the island himself.  Once there, he had to build a small quay for the unloading of the seven or so crates containing the marble.  Once on land, there was the problem of getting the crates up the hill to the site of the grave via the only road which was a rough goat track.

Nothing daunted, Casson cut wooden rollers from pine trees and began to level the track by removing outcrops of rock on the path.   That alone took over a week.   Then the crates had to be pushed up the track and Casson mentioned how much he admired and respected the architects of Stonehenge.  During the evenings, Casson spent time with his hosts the local shepherds and goatherds on the island who offered him hospitality and shelter in their shack.   After a supper of bread and milk, they would sit round an open fire, taking about the war with the shepherds, some of whom had served in a Greek Division sent to Odessa with other Allied troops.

Returning briefly to Athens to fetch some tools to complete the task, Casson enlisted the help of Norman Douglas.  The pair returned to Skyros and oversaw the completion of the laying of marble tomb over Brooke's grave.  Finally, Casson had the tomb consecrated by the head of the local monastery of St. George.

Casson reflected sadly: "I wondered what Brooke would have thought to see this strange assembly. I came away sadly to think that here was still another of my generation accounted for.  It was a lonely world now for men of my age."  

With grateful thanks to Lady Jennifer MacLellan for agreeing to become the Honorary President of our Association, for sending me so much information and for her help and encouragement.

Photograph of Lady MacLellan taken by her Grandson.

Photograph of Rupert Brooke's grave from Google Images.

Map of Greece showing the Islands of Skyros and also Lemnos where some of the wounded from Gallipoli were taken for treatment.