Remembering today, 9th June 2017, WW1 Soldier Poet Leonard Comer Wall who was killed a hundred years ago on 9th June 1917. Leonard was buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. He is one of the poets featured in the 1917 commemorative exhibition on display at The Wilfred Owen Story in Argyle Street, Birkenhead, Wirral.
See earlier posts about Leonard.
http://forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Leonard+Comer+Wall
Photo by Paul Breeze. There are still some copies of the Wirral Poets 2017 Calendar left if anyone wants one. Leonard is featured in June.
Friday, 9 June 2017
Wednesday, 7 June 2017
Gerald George Samuel (1886 – 1917) – British
Gerald
was born in Marylebone, London, UK on 6th May 1886. His parents were Marcus Samuel, first
Viscount Bearsted and his wife, Fanny Elizabeth Samuel, nee Benjamin, Viscountess Bearsted. Gerald’s father ran an import company,
trading with the Far East and set up the Shell Transport and Trading Company.
Gerald described the weapons of the conflict, which was the first using the tools of the Industrial Revolution, as “the brutal inventions of crime” and the conditions in the trenches as “the pitiless welter of shell” (From “Consolation”, page 32).
And try to wipe away the marks of war
That stain the nations with their bloody hue.
To bring some ray of solace to a few,
To make their lives less difficult to live,
Is all I ask. My work I shall not rue
If I can help to comfort some who grieve,
And added happiness to some poor toilers give.
But I would leave to those like me
In future days some legacy.
I only wish that when in Heaven
I may observe the joy I’ve given.
And so I try, with painful strife,
To justify my having life.
From "Poems" by Gerald George Samuel (Arthur L. Humphreys, London, 1917)
Gerald had the following siblings - Walter Horace Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted; Nellie Samuel (married name Ionides) and Ida Marie Samuel (married name Sebag-Montefiore). Educated at Eton College, Gerald travelled to Japan, Canada and the United States in 1912.
During
the First World War, Gerald was turned down twice when he applied to join the Army, due to defective eyesight. However, he was commissioned into the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment and posted to the Western Front, where he was wounded twice.
Gerald was killed leading his men during the Battle of Messines on 7th June 1917. At the time of his death, he held the rank of Lieutenant. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium, panel 45 and 47, at Willesden Cemetery in London and at Eton College.
Gerald devoted his life to the welfare of working lads in the East End of London, and had a Home for Orphans built - The Samuel and Myer Home. On his death Gerald bequeathed the house and £10,000 for its maintenance to the Jewish Board of Guardians.
Gerald was killed leading his men during the Battle of Messines on 7th June 1917. At the time of his death, he held the rank of Lieutenant. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium, panel 45 and 47, at Willesden Cemetery in London and at Eton College.
Gerald devoted his life to the welfare of working lads in the East End of London, and had a Home for Orphans built - The Samuel and Myer Home. On his death Gerald bequeathed the house and £10,000 for its maintenance to the Jewish Board of Guardians.
Gerald
George Samuel’s WW1 poetry collection “Poems” was published by Arthur L. Humphreys,
London in 1917. Source: Catherine W. Reilly "English Poetry of the First World War: A Bibliography" (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1978)
I don’t usually comment on the writing of the poets I feature but I am very impressed
indeed by Gerald George Samuel’s writing, enjoyed reading his poems and made a
few notes to share with you.
The
Introduction, written by Gerald’s father, has a copy of the last letter of
encouragement Gerald wrote from the Front to the boys he worked with in Stepney.
I found it particularly moving. And in
the poem “My Aim” Gerald wrote that he would like “To make the world a happier,
better place” (page 24).
Gerald described the weapons of the conflict, which was the first using the tools of the Industrial Revolution, as “the brutal inventions of crime” and the conditions in the trenches as “the pitiless welter of shell” (From “Consolation”, page 32).
In “Lost
Years” I found a sentiment reflected in one of my Mother’s favourite poems – “The
Moving Finger writes…”: from Edward FitzGerlad’s translation into English of
Omar Khayam’s poem in Farsi:
“For I
cannot call back the ebbing tide
And
live again the seasons that are gone.” (page 34)
On
page 40 is a poem dedicated “To Music” – echoing my own feelings about music:
And on
page 41 are a few lines about music, poetry and art.
I
leave you with two of Gerald’s poems:
“War
and After”
I hope
that when at last these days are o’er,
I may
return my labours to renew,And try to wipe away the marks of war
That stain the nations with their bloody hue.
To bring some ray of solace to a few,
To make their lives less difficult to live,
Is all I ask. My work I shall not rue
If I can help to comfort some who grieve,
And added happiness to some poor toilers give.
Untitled
(page 22)
I care
too little for this earth
To
love it, though it gave me birth;But I would leave to those like me
In future days some legacy.
Joy is
not mine, but if my pain
Bring
forth for someone else a gain:I only wish that when in Heaven
I may observe the joy I’ve given.
“May”
(page 27)
But I
would not forgotten be,
When
only dust is left of me:And so I try, with painful strife,
To justify my having life.
From "Poems" by Gerald George Samuel (Arthur L. Humphreys, London, 1917)
Tuesday, 6 June 2017
Poets killed in WW1 who are commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium
Tom BRANDON, kia 13th May 1915, Ypres
The Hon. Gerald William GRENFELL, Lieutenant, Rifle Brigade,
2 Bn., kia 30th July 1915, Ypres - His poems were published in two WW1 Anthologies.
(NOTE: The Hon. Julian Grenfell who died on 26th May 1915 of wounds sustained on 12th May 1915 near Ypres, is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.)
(NOTE: The Hon. Julian Grenfell who died on 26th May 1915 of wounds sustained on 12th May 1915 near Ypres, is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.)
Sydney HALE, 8th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, kia 31st July
1915, Zouave Wood
Walter Scott Stuart LYON, a Lieutenant in the Royal Scots, kia
8th May 1915, Ypres – His WW1 collection “Easter at Ypres 1915 and other poems”
was published by Maclehose, Glasgow in 1916.
The Hon. Colwyn Erasmus Arnold PHILIPPS, MC, Captain, Royal
Horse Guards, kia 13th May 1915 – His WW1 collections “Verses, prose,
fragments, letters from the Front” was published by Murray in 1916 and he had
poems published in two WW1 poetry anthologies.
Gerald George SAMUEL, Royal West Kent Regiment, kia 7th June
1917 during the Battle of Messines – His WW1 collection “Poems” was published
by Humphreys in 1917.
Saturday, 3 June 2017
Frank S. Brown (1893 - 1915) – Canadian
Francis
Smith Brown, known as Frank, was born in Canada in 1893. His father was the Reverend S.G. Brown of
Almonte, Ontario.
Frank
described himself as a ‘soldier and clerk’ when he joined the Princess Patricia’s
Regiment at the outbreak of war. He was known as the “poet of the Pats.”
Frank was
among the first of the Canadians to come to Britain in WW1. His unit was initially stationed on Salisbury
Plain, where he spent some time in hospital when he became ill. Frank was an accomplished pianist and sang as
a baritone. He was also a good horseman
and an expert shot. After his recovery,
Frank was posted to the Western Front where he served with the rank of
Sergeant. He was killed at St. Eloi on
3rd February 1915. and is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial, Menenstraat, 8900 Ypres, Belgium - Panel 10.
Frank had
poems published in the “Ottawa Citizen” newspaper and his WW1 Collection “Contingent Ditties and Other
Soldier Songs of the Great War“, edited by Holbrook Jackson, was published by
Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd., London, in 1915. The collection is available as a free
down-load here: https://archive.org/stream/contingentdittie00brow/contingentdittie00brow_djvu.txt
Source: “Contingent
Ditties and Other Soldier Songs of the Great War” (Sampson Low, Marston & Co.
Ltd., London, 1915)
“THE
P.P.C.L.T. (Princess Pat's)”
The trumpet
sounded loud o'er hill and plain :
To Arms ! To
Arms ! Our Empire is at war !
Come, join
your colours, on the land or main.
All Britons
who have served the King before.
And in the
mountain mine; by prairie plow,
They
answered to the trumpet's brazen voice :
They, who
had served the Empire long enow
As soldiers
by profession and from choice.
No
conscripts, these, in whose unwilling hands
Weapons are
thrust, to wage unwilling strife.
But —
freemen all, who needed not commands
To volunteer
their service, limb and life.
Thus rose a
regiment, as 'neath a wand.
Of seasoned
men, with medalled service too :
Soldiers
from every corps throughout the land —
Britons
beyond the seas; tried men and true.
This is
indeed a princely gift to give
To our
Imperial Realm in crisis sore —
Proud in the
nation of the sturdy men,
And prouder
yet of him who raised the Corps.
Then go, ye
able sons of Britain's soil,
To take your
place, wherever it may be ;
God speed
you in the glory — and the toil.
Princess
Patricia's Canadian Infantry.
“THE CONVOY”
The sunny
rose of autumn's smoky day
Had almost
fled. The chill was in the air,
When issued
forth from Gaspe's smiling bay
A grand
Armada, 'neath a cruiser's care.
A great and
grand flotilla, speeding forth
Beneath the
oily pall of clinging smoke —
A gift to
Motherland, of priceless worth —
Th'
Atlantic's lazy swells to life awoke.
Thrice ten
and two great modern Argosies,
That hurried
to the Field the best of youth
To bear
their country's colours o'er the seas,
And herald
Canada to national growth.
Great sons
of sires whose willing blood has given
To our New
World the sterling of the Old ;
Most worthy
volunteers are these, undriven
To take up arms
; freemen, but strong and bold.
Beneath the
watching escort's wakeful eyes
The fleet
pulsed on. The ocean's lazy roll
Bore three
long straggling lines, 'neath low'ring skies,
Spread as a
flock of geese cleave toward their goal.
Thrice ten
and two great, sullen merchantmen,
As, sullen
in their cloaks of drab and black,
They
freighted over thrice ten thousand souls.
How many of
these same pay they bring back ?
The days roll
by. The ocean slowly yields Its bosom to the squadron's steady pace,
Until the cliffs
of England rise to greet
The scions
of her colonizing race
Come home —
to give their all. Come home - to fight.
Come home— though
born of that far Western land,
Where
Britain's shield is 'stablished for the right,
They
volunteered to lend an armed hand.
Oh 1
Plymouth, Cradle of the mighty Drake ;
The haven of
his vessel's hopes and fears ;
Yet have you
ever seen so fine a sight?
Or have you
waked to such a crest of cheers
As roars
aboard the transports, on whose decks
Are packed
the khaki hosts ? Has e'er a day
Such wealth
of loyal blood, such willing hands
Brought to
your shores ?
All England
answers, " Nay."
Thursday, 1 June 2017
Alan Seeger commemoration evening, American Library in Paris, Monday, 5th June 2017 at 19h. 30
At the American Library in Paris on Monday evening, 5th June 2017, American
writer Chris Dickon will give a talk about the life of Alan Seeger and his
involvement and death in WW1. Alan’s father
founded the American Library in Paris after the war.
Composer/saxophonist
Patrick Simmerli will perform a piece of music he has composed inspired by Alan Seeger.
The evening
promises to be very entertaining - find out more here:
Alan Seeger is one of the poets featured in the book “Somme
Poets”, available from www.poshupnorth.com
The American Library in Paris
10, rue General Camou,
75007 PARIS,
France.
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