Bertram John William Andrews (1895 – 1917) – British poet

Bertram Andrews was born in 1895 in Plumstead, Kent, UK. His parents were William Andrews, a torpedo maker and his wife Clara, nee Lampitt.  Bertram was educated at Bancrofts School in Woodford Green, London between 1906 and 1913. He loved writing and was a regular contributor of reviews and poems to the school’s newspaper. 

When war broke out in 1914 Bertram joined the 16th Battalion (Public Schools) Middlesex Regiment as a Private soldier. The Battalion was raised on 1st September 1914 and was sent to France on 17th November 1915. Bertram saw service in the line the following Winter and Spring but by the Summer he was withdrawn from the Front for officer training in Ayr.  During his time in Ayr he fell in love with a local girl, Annie Knox. He received his commission on 4th August 1916 and was appointed Second Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment, 13th Battalion (the South Downs Battalion). 

In July 1917 Bertram was attached to the Signal section of his Battalion in the Ypres sector where the Third Battle of Ypres was scheduled to commence in the area of Pilckem Ridge. He was ordered to lead troops close to the initial advance to ensure telephone and other communication links were laid from the forward posts back to the reserve positions and command. The advance began at 03.50 hours on 31st July.   Bertram was badly wounded in the early stages of the battle when a shell burst as he was leading his troops across No Man’s Land. Severly wounded in the abdomen and side, he was evacuated to the Casualty Clearing Station where he died shortly afterwards. Bertram was buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery in Belgium.  The cemetery is located to the north-west of Poperinge near Krombeke.

In 2015 the Old Bancroftians Association was contacted by a lady in Scotland who had discovered a book of poems and other memorabilia in the belongings of her deceased aunt, Annie Knox. The poems were written by Bertram Andrews who left them with Annie on his return to the Front. The Old Bancroftians arranged for the poems to be transcribed and we are grateful to have the opportunity to reproduce the poems here. Our thanks go to Gordon Brown for bringing Bertram Andrews to our attention. 

Much of the biographical information on this page is reproduced from the Bertram Andrews page on The Bancroftian Network website http://bancroftians.net/cgi-bin/bancms3.pl?dn=centandrewsbjw

Bertram Andrews’ Poem

“Love and War” – Bertram Andrews

A while ago in London town,

I watched the crowds come trooping down

And mark’d the people passing by,

(Such hosts of people passing by)

All speeding on so pensively.

Oblivious of my stare.

Yet all the time I was aware

That one had gone who should be there,

Thus, searching in my memory,

I could not think who it should be

Till, happily,

I saw a soldier home from France

“’Tis he”, I thought, “That merry glance!

“’Tis Cupid who, his bow and dart

“For bomb and bayonet laid apart,

“No longer wars on human heart

“But wages warfare new.

“Yet that,” I ponder’d,” can’t be true.

“The land has lovers still a few.

“Who then can Cupid’s place supply,

“Since still his arrows seem to fly

“unerringly?”

Anon a maiden chanc’d to pass,

A bright and winsome, laughing lass;

Who, as she went, provokingly

Enslav’d mankind and dext’rously

Contrived, their hearts should captive be

To her whom next they view’d.

Now Cupid fights, his ancient feud

Is by his sister still pursued:

But deadlier her artillery

(His bow and quiver idle lie),

Her roguish eye.

Plumstead, August 1916

Sources:

Discover War Poets, Find my Past and 

https://thepostil.com/november-11-1918-the-poems-of-bertram-john-william-andrews/https://warpoets.org.uk/worldwar1/resources/unknown-war-poets/unknown-war-poets-bertram-andrews/love-and-war/

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=8b1f85dc6a574c43&rlz=1C1CHBD_en-GBGB794GB794&sxsrf=APpeQns1_DIfwuifS2WcrMQ8jFPPd6N6sA:1788104088396&udm=2&fbs=ABfTbFVyMZGZf1hfvX9uKjN_-G8c4u0nXx4bEIpwm1lnNH832VstEKsVDqPorK0Gahnm2nrruedQ0d32Et2kDhW_DVrEfmexCwyVncqqJWDU0VvgxX3iEDPybK1uNDy8j8Tqn9NQxi-XK9o_7JRm4NNWR-BtqOns28zH1xsXQXkoq4zH6gqyqebZYsWYdDLTTbJSnHNVJrFLfOXXzh1-vQqUuHsQVLtvFQ&q=Bertram+Andrews+poet&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiCgYro1siWAxXtTEEAHSOnEksQtKgLegQIFRAB&biw=1385&bih=978&dpr=0.9#sv=CAMSURoyKhBlLVBIaVg0SjFoNVFMUy1NMg5QSGlYNEoxaDVRTFMtTToOUG9pcTAwd1UyRFVCZU0gBCoXCgFzEhBlLVBIaVg0SjFoNVFMUy1NGAEwARgHIIriooIOSggQARgBIAEoAQ

 

Edward Carless (1859 – 1945) – British amateur poet

Found by Paul Simadas 

 “The Lady Tram-Conductor: A Working Man’s Tribute” written by Edward Carless in 1916

Strange things happen in time of war;

A lady now conducts the car!

In uniform, so smart and trim,

She’s stepp’d into the place of him

Who answered to his country’s call,

And left his home, his work, and all.

In this way she’s released a man,

Doing her “bit” as best she can;

And if the truth of her we tell,

We must confess she does it well.

She’ll punch your ticket, and will smile,

And this will do in easy style;

And as she goes around the car,

Will sweetly call out where you are;

You’re right with her, daylight or dark,

From Lawnswood unto Roundhay Park.

From Pudsey unto City Square;

Just board the car, and pay your fare,

Telling her where you want to be,

And she’ll remember, this you’ll see,

And be you working-man or toff,

At the right place will put you off.

Let us think of what she’s doing,

When we on the car are going;

To our work, or out for pleasure;

Let us give to her full measure;

For the useful part she’s playing;

And may no one hear us saying

Aught that would grieve, or would offend,

But rather be to her a friend.

Let each one bear him as a man,

Help these conductors all he can.

Our admiration they all earn;

And if a strange job we’ve to do,

Keep a good heart, and buckle to,

Remember those across the foam,

Fighting for country, and for home,

These lads face all; naught to they shirk;

Let’s put that spirit in our work;

It’s a big job we have to do,

Let’s pull together; we’ll pull through.

Written by Burley* resident Edward Carless and dated 12th February 1916, the poem was self-published as a simple leaflet, made available by the author at the price of one penny* from his home address of 8 Thornville Street, where he was listed in Kelly’s Directory of Leeds from 1917:

*Burley is an inner-city suburb located about 1 mile north-west of Leeds city centre in Yorkshire, UK.

The very first Leeds tram took its trial run to test the track on 2nd July 1911. 

Edward Carless was born in Bentham, Yorkshire in 1859 and worked in a local iron foundry.   In 1888 Edward married Annie Macrow.   He died in 1945.

* One British penny in 1917 had the purchasing power equivalent to roughly 38p (or £0.38) today. 

Sources:  The Austro-Hungerian Armee in the Great War 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/225340620927223

Artists of the First World War Facebook Group 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/385353788875799/permalink/2277933356284490/

Find my Past. 

https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/media/moritz-ledeli-conductress-municipal-tramway-watercolour-191516

               A water colour painting by Austrian artist Moritz Ledellc (1856 – 1920) in 1915/16

Wilhelm Klemm (1881 – 1968) – German poet, publisher and doctor

Wilhelm was born in Leipzig on 15th May 1881. His parents were Rudolf Klemm (1853–1908), who owned and operated the Otto Klemm commission bookstore in Leipzig, and his wife Johanna Helene, nee Scharff (1855–1917).

Educated at the Thomasschule, Wilhelm went on to study medicine in order to become a physician. He studied at three German universities: Munich, Erlangen, and Kiel and completed his medical studies in 1905, before going to study chemistr at the University of Breslau.

 Like the Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges (1899 – 1986), Wilhelm started writing poetry at a very early age and completed medical studies in 1905. However, he became a publisher when his father died, taking over his book business just 4 years after graduation.  

In 1915, while serving as a doctor with the German army in Flanders, Wilhelm  published his first volume of poetry entitled “Gloria! War Poems from the Field.”  An American review in 1916 named him as one of two “young artists who preferred emphasizing the realities of war to boasting their ‘Veterlandsliebe [Patriotism]’” and compared his work to Walt Whitman’s “Drum-taps”. His work also appeared in literary journals such as “Der Jugend” and “Simplicissimus” and later in Franz Pfermfert’s “Die Aktion”. Further published volumes were “Verse und Bilder” (1916), “Aufforderung” (1917), “Ergriffenheit“(1919), “Entfaltung” (1919), “Traumschutt” (1920) and “Verzauberte Ziele” (1921). His poems give a very realistic impression of war events and show how much he was affected by the war environment and the work he had to do at the front

“Battle on the Marne” (September 1914) 1917 by Wilhelm Klemm

Slowly the stones begin moving and speaking

The grasses freeze to green metal. The woods,

Deep dense hideouts, devour distant platoons.

The heavens, the chalk-white mystery, threaten to burst.

Two colossal hours roll out to two minutes.

The empty horizon expands upwards

My heart is as large as Germany and France together,

Bored through by all the bullets of the world.

The battery raises its lion voice

Six times out into the land. The shells howl.

Stillness. In the distance the infantry fire seethes,

For days, for weeks.

From: “Aufforderung”, first published 1917(Translated from the German by Penelope Monkhouse)

“Battle on the Marne” by Wilhelm Klemm describes the scene in September 1914; also a realistic depiction with apocalyptic traits. The freezing of the grass to “green metal” is a way of expressing the mass loss of life. Even nature has demon-like features. In the second part of the poem, he identifies with both countries – all suffer under the firing and shelling of the one huge lion of war.

After the war in 1921, Wilhelm took over his father-in-law's (Alfred Kröner) publishing firm - Alfred Kröner Verlag. He managed the publishing business until 1937, when the Nazi regime forced him to relinquish his position.

Wilhelm died on 23rd January 1968.

Source: Wilipedia

You can find out more about Penelope Monkhouse;s work on her website Behind their Lines - https://behindtheirlines.blogspot.com/2018/01/at-front.html