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First World War Poets
From Your Archives
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REFERENCES TO FIRST WORLD WAR POETS
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[edit] Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen, born in Oswestry, England, was the eldest of four children. From an early age Owen began to read and write poetry. He followed his mother's evangelical influence and read the bible daily. Without having the necessary finances available to him, and failing to win an academic scholarship, Owen was deprived of a college education. By 1911, Owen had moved to nearby Dunsden to work as a lay reader, only managing to study part-time at the University of Reading.
In 1913 Owen moved to Bordeaux to work as a teacher in the Berlitz School of Languages. Soon after he became a private teacher in a prosperous Pyrenean family. He worked there until 1915 when he returned to Britain to enlist in the Artist's Rifles. After embarking on an officers' training course, Owen was commissioned in 1916. He was shipped to France on 29 December 1916.
Owen returned to Britain on 02 May 1917 after completing four months moving in and out of the frontline. He suffered from shell shock and was treated at the Craiglockhart Hospital, Edinburgh. It was there that he met Seigfried Sassoon. Sassoon is said to have heavily influenced Owen's creative style during this period, encouraging him to explore his shell-shock symptoms in his works. He published works in the hospital journal. In early 1918, after rejoining his regiment, Owen published further poems in acclaimed journals. In September 1918 Owen returned to the frontline. He was killed on 04 November 1918. His parents were notified of his death on 11 November 1918- Armistice day.
Served with 5 Battalion Manchester Regiment from 4 June 1916 (Second Lieutenant). London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 29617, p. 5726, 6 June 1916. Retrieved on 3 June 2009.
Attached to 2 Battalion Manchester Regiment from January 1917 for service on Western Front.
Wounded 2 May 1917 (not mentioned in diary).
Rejoined 2 Battalion in September 1918 after period in hospital in Edinburgh and service at home with 5 Battalion.
WO 95/2397 records his return on 15 September 1918 and on 8 October 1918 mentions the award of a Military Cross for the action of 1-2 October.
WO 95/2397 Killed in action 4 November 1918. The report of the action gives statistics but not names
WO 138/74 Personal file
MH 106/1887-1908 Craiglockhart Hospital
Military Cross, London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 31183, p. 2363, 14 February 1919. Citation London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 31480, p. 9761, 29 July 1919.
"2nd Lt, Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, 5th Bn. Manch. R., T.F., attd. 2nd Bn.
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the attack on the Fonsomme Line on October lst/2nd, 1918. On the company commander becoming a casualty, he assumed command and showed fine leadership and resisted a heavy counter-attack. He personally manipulated a captured enemy machine gun from an isolated position and inflicted considerable losses on the enemy. Throughout he behaved most gallantly."
[edit] Siegfried Sassoon
Served with 3 Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers (Captain).
Attached to 1 Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers from November 1915 for service on Western Front.
- 24 November 1915 - records arrival.
- 11 April 1916 met with and dispersed an enemy patrol.
- Name appears in list of officers in action during July: with C Company 5 July 1916, with transport company for unspecified date.
- 23/24 July records his wounding.
- Award of Military Cross mentioned in Appendix A, battalion order of 7 July 1916.
- Rejoined 3 Battalion November 1916.
- Attached to 2 Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers 13 March 1917.
- 16 April 1917 returned home wounded.
WO 95/4679 Attached to 25 Royal Welsh Fusiliers early 1918.
WO 95/3154 12 July 1918 wounded accidentally by own troops and returned home.
Award of Military Cross appears in London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 29684, p. 7441, 27 July 1916.
"2nd Lt. Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon, 3rd (attd. 1st) Bn., R. W. Fus.
For conspicuous gallantry during a raid on the enemy's trenches. He remained for 1 1/2 hours under rifle and bomb fire collecting and bringing, in our wounded. Owing to his courage and determination all the killed and wounded were brought in."
[edit] Robert Graves
Served with 3 Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers (Captain).
WO 95/1281 Attached to 2 Battalion Welsh Regiment, arriving 18 May 1915 and leaving for duty with 2 Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers 2 August 1915.
WO 95/1365 Not mentioned in diary of 2 Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
- Attached to 1 Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers 27 November 1915, arrival noted in lists of reinforcements
- 14 January 1916 returned to base to instruct troops.
Rejoined 1 Battalion in March then returned home for leave and duty with 3 Battalion. Not mentioned in diary.
- 6 July 1916 rejoined 2 Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
- Wounded 20 July 1916. He was later reported to have died of his wounds and a correction appears in The Times 5 August 1916 page 9.
- Rejoined 3 Royal Welsh Fusiliers November 1916.
- Rejoined 2 Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers 28 January 1917.
- 12 March 1917 returned to England sick and struck off strength.
[edit] Rupert Brooke
Sub Lieutenant, Hood Battalion Royal Naval Brigade.
ADM 137/3064 Died 23 April 1915 during Dardenelles campaign but diary of Hood Battalion begins June 1916.
Diary of 2 Royal Naval Brigade appears not to survive.
Obituary in the Times 26 April 1916 page 5.
Commission in London Gazette: no. 28906, p. 7396, 18 September 1914.
His service record is in DocumentsOnline, [1] (a fee may be payable to view the record in full) extracts are also used as examples in the research guide for Royal Naval Divison service records, and may be freely viewed.[2][3]
[edit] (Philip) Edward Thomas
244 Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery (Lieutenant).
No war diary in WO 95.
Died 9 April 1917.
Officers Who Died in the Great War page 42.
[edit] Julian Grenfell
1 Royal Dragoons (Captain)
- Awarded DSO for action recorded in diary 15/16 November 1914.
- 13 May entry 1.30 pm. He was severely wounded.
- Death on 26 May 1915 recoded in the casualty list Appendix 1 May 1915.
- Obituary in The Times 28 May 1915 page 5.
- Officers Who Died in the Great War page 21.
[edit] Edmund Blunden
Served with Royal Sussex Regiment.
WO 95/2582. 11 Battalion 7 December 1916 records his promotion from temporary 2nd Lieutenant to temporary Lieutenant from 4 September 1916.
Military Cross, London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 29921, p. 1016, 26 January 1917. (but no mention in diary of 11 Battalion).
"Temp. 2nd Lt. Edmund Charles Blunden, R. Suss. R.
For conspicuous gallantry in action. He displayed great courage and determination when in charge of a carrying party under heavy fire. He has previously done fine work."
[edit] Isaac Rosenberg
Served as private with: WO 95/2611 11 Kings Own Royal Lancasters 1916 - January 1917 WO 95/2600. 229 Field Company, Royal Engineers February 1917 - September 1917 WO 95/2611 11 Kings Own Royal Lancasters 26 September 1917 - December 1917. WO 95/1506 11 Kings Own Royal Lancasters December 1917 - 1 April 1918
He is not mentioned by name in any of these diaries.
Killed in action 1 April 1918.
Soldiers Who Died in the Great War Volume 9, page 13. See also: TNA's Focus On...Isaac Rosenberg
[edit] Charles Hamilton Sorley
Enlisted upon the outbreak of WW1. Captain CH Sorley WO 339/11501, served with 7th Battalion Suffolk Regiment WO 95/1852.
Died aged 20 on 13th October 1915 at the Battle of Loos. Robert Graves and John Kipling, son of Rudyard Kipling, also fought in the same battle. Sorley is commemorated on the panels of the Loos Memorial (see picture)
Work in progress
[edit] John Kipling
Son of the Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Rudyard Kipling, Lt. John Kipling was commissioned into the Irish Guards at the outbreak of war despite being very short sighted. He died on 27th September 1915, the 2nd day of his posting to the front, at the Batttle of Loos. He was 18 years old. Contemporary reports relate that he was last seen wandering the battlefield, disorientated, suffering from fatal facial wounds. His body was not recovered. Rudyard Kipling's eulogy to his missing son, 'My Boy Jack' was written in late 1915. Initially John Kipling was commemorated on a panel of the Loos War memorial at Dud Corner Cemetery, along with Charles Hamilton Sorley and Fergus Bowes-Lyon, brother of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. In 1992 the Commonwealth War Graves Commission identified a grave in St Mary's A.D.S Cemetery at Haisnes as containing the body of John Kipling (see picture). This identification was subsequently challenged by Tonie and Valmai Holt (and others). John Kipling's name remains on the Loos memorial to the missing.
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John Kipling's service record : WO 339/53917
War diary of 2nd Battalion Irish Guards : WO 95/1220
[edit] Thomas Kettle
Thomas Kettle (1880 - 1916) was an Irish nationalist poet and politician. He was elected MP for East Tyrone in 1906. He resigned his seat in 1910 to pursue his career as Professor of National Economics at University College, Dublin. Enlisting at the outbreak of War, Thomas Kettle was killed in action while serving as a Lieutenant in the 9th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, on September 9, 1916 in the Battle of the Somme. Details of the events surrounding his death are found in the unit war diary (WO 95/1974). The diary details how the unit suffered heavy casualties while advancing on Ginchy. The file lists five officers as dying that day, including commanding officer Captain WJ Murphy. Details of the war pension given to Lieutenant Kettle's widow, Mary Kettle, are given in file WO 339/13445, which also provides information on the compassionate allowance provided for the couple's daughter, Elizabeth Dorothy Kettle, born January 31, 1913. On conclusion of the war, Lieutenant Thomas Kettle was awarded the Victory and British War Medals for his service in France (WO 372/11).
work in progress
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