“On a War-Worker, 1916” by Arundel James Kennedy Esdaile (1880 – 1956)
Far from their homes they lie, the men who fell
Fighting, in Flanders clay or Tigris sand:
She who lies here died for the cause as well,
Whom neither bayonet killed nor bursting shell
But her own heart that loves its native land.
From ““Cambridge Poets of the Great War: An Anthology” Michael Copp (Associated University Presses, London, 2001)
Arundel James Kennedy Esdaile was born in London on 25th April 1880. His parents were James Kennedy Esdaile and Florence Esdaile. His siblings were Emmeline, b. 1878, Everard, b. 1883, Millicent, b. 1884 and Percival, b. 1889. The family lived in Sussex.
Arundel was educated at Lancing School, Sussex and Magdalene College Cambridge. He worked at the British Museum Library. In 1907, Arundel married Katherine Ada McDowell, whose father was Secretary of the Girl’s Public Day School Trust. Arundel died on 22nd June 1956.
