Reilly 213.

Contemporaneous inscription: "from Molly Higham Xmas 1919"

The Overshadowed and The Surprising


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. . . Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields. John McCrae (1872-1918)


The Overshadowed Poets of The Great War
William Noel Hodgson
Born: 3rd January 1893
Died: 1st July 1916 (first day of the Battle of the Somme)
Aged 23 years
Lieutenant


William Noel Hodgson was a Georgian poet in the style of Rupert Brooke. He volunteered in 1914, and served with the Devonshire Regiment. In September, 1915, during the Battle of Loos, "[u]nder heavy enemy fire Hodgson, three other young officers and a hundred men held a captured trench for 36 hours without reinforcements or food. Hodgson was awarded the Military Cross" (Powell, A Deep Cry 99). Marching out of this hell-hole, Hodgson composed the incredibly resilient "Back to Rest." In 1916, Hodgson began writing stories, poems, and essays about the front under the pseudonym "Edward Melbourne." Hodgson was especially fond of telling tales about his resourceful "batman" (his aide). His pieces enjoyed an audience in the leading magazines of the day. As his unit waited to move up to its jumping off position at the Somme Offensive, Hodgson composed his last poem "Before Action." On July 1st, Hodgson's battalion attacked the German trenches south of Mametz. "At the end of the day the bodies of 159 men, including Noel Hodgson were found. The body of Hodgson's batman was lying at his side. The men of the 9th Battalion were buried in their Mansel Copse trench, and a notice above the trench read: "The Devonshires held this trench. The Devonshires hold it still" (Powell, A Deep Cry105).

Cyril Morton Horne
Born: 1887
Killed 27th January 1916
Aged 29 years
Captain




Songs of The Shrapnel Shell, and Other Verse / by Cyril Morton Horne. -- New York and London : Harper & brothers, .

"When the war broke out Cyril Horne (1887-1916), who had written an opera, was working in the American theatre" (Powell, A Deep Cry 53). He was commissioned in March 1915, survived the Battle of Loos (September 1915), but was killed in an artillery barrage on January 27th, 1916. Coincidentally, the collection of Horne's poetry published after his death is entitled Songs of the Shrapnel Shell and Other Verse.

Ewart Alan Mackintosh
Born: 4th March 1893
Died: 21st November 1917
Aged 24 years
Lieutenant


War, The Liberator, and Other Pieces, by E.A. Mackintosh, M.C., lt. Seaforth Highlanders (51st division) ; with a memoir. -- London, John Lane ; New York, John Lane company, 1918.

E. A. Mackintosh (1893-1917) served as an officer in the Seaforth Highlanders from December 1914. He played the pipes, spoke Gaelic, and was loved by his men who affectionately called him "Tosh." For his part, Mackintosh returned that love. On May 16th, 1916, he carried wounded Private David Sutherland through 100 yards of German trenches with the Germans in hot pursuit. However, before Mackintosh could bring him to friendly trenches, Private Sutherland died and his body had to be left behind. Mackintosh's bravery would win him the Military Cross, and in memory of Private David Sutherland, and in recognition of his unique role as 23-year old "father" to his men, he wrote "In Memoriam." In August 1916, after being wounded and gassed at High Wood on the Somme, Mackintosh wrote "To the 51st Division: High Wood, July -- August 1916." During his recovery and rotation to England, Mackintosh became engaged. In October 1917, Mackintosh returned to France, and on the second day of the Battle of Cambrai, November 21, 1917, was killed. He was 24. In "Cha Till Maccrimmein" -- a poem once considered by Scottish enthusiasts to be an authentic Highland lament -- Mackintosh foretells his own death.