A poem full of raw emotion and a tremendous sense of loss and sadness. The reader becomes acutely aware that Blunden is biding his time, waiting for his life to return to him, so that he can once again be at peace in his beloved countryside, but one also realises that he never really achieved this aim. He was never truly able to forget.

Taking the Edward Thomas walk in the area immediately surrounding the village of Steep, near Petersfield in Hampshire, it is quite easy to see why the poet fell in love with this corner of England. He was renowned for temporarily absconding from the family home, in order to soak up the atmosphere in the countryside.

Although the weather prevented us from completing the entire walk, the parts that we did see were spectacular. The Edward Thomas memorial stone on Shoulder of Mutton Hill is well worth the steep descent from Cockshott Lane, affording as it does, a magnificent view of the South Downs, and the glimpses of the houses in which Thomas lived during his short residence in this village offer an insight into his lifestyle. The walk also takes in the village memorial and All Saint’s Church.

ALL SAINT’S CHURCH, STEEP

The church of All Saint’s in Steep dates back to the 12th century, although there are many later additions. It originally came under the curacy of East Meon in the Winchester diocese until 1867 when Steep became a parish in its own right and then in 1927 it fell under the diocese of Portsmouth.

Inside this small but beautiful church there are several memorials to local people including a war memorial plaque on the north wall, which includes the names of those connected to the village who fell during the First World War, including Edward Thomas. There is also a window in the South Wall, designed and engraved by Laurence Whistler in 1978 to mark the centenary of Thomas’s birth. There were originally two windows (the second one showing an engraving of Thomas’s poem The New House), but this was shattered in 2010 as an act of vandalism, during a break-in.

CEMETERY

Like many small villages in Great Britain, Steep has its fair share of war dead to commemorate. Within the graveyard of All Saint’s Church there are six graves from the First World War, all of which are listed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The men interred all died on English soil for various reasons, while in the service of their country. These are their stories (with additional research, where available):

William George APPLEBEE
(14.10.1901 – 29.10.1918)
William was the second of four children of Henry and Martha (née Gregory) who lived at Tigwell Farm, East Meon, Petersfield, Hampshire. William enlisted in the Royal Navy at Portsmouth as a “Boy, Second Class” on 11th September, serving aboard HMS Impregnable. He died of emphysema on 29th October 1918 at Plymouth in Devon.

Adam BOGLE
(1848 – 3.3.1915)
A native of Glasgow, Adam Bogle was a career soldier, joining the Royal Engineers in 1868 at the age of 20. He rose through the ranks, becoming a Lieutenant by 1879, Captain by 1881 and a Major ten years later. He married Ethel Glossop in 1882 and they lived at a house called “Collyers” at Petersfield in Hampshire. When Major Bogle died, he left his wife the substantial sum of £26,000 (probably worth nearly £2m today).

William Thomas REED
(1900 – 18.10.1918)
The second of the three children of John and Emma (née Mills), who lived at Island Farm in Steep, Hampshire. William was an Ordinary Seaman aboard HMS Vivid.

David Ewan McCONNEL
(15.4.1900 – 7.12.1918)
Born in Queensland, Australia, the son of teacher David Rose McConnel and Mary Emma (née Jordan). The family including David’s older brother, moved to the USA in 1910, where David attended the Palo Alto Elementary School, before they relocated to Switzerland and then to England, arriving in Hampshire in 1914. David attended Bedales School near Steep, where he became head boy. He joined the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force) in March 1918, earning his wings on December 7th. Later that day, he was tasked with delivering an aircraft and was killed while landing in foggy conditions.

Charles Ernest LILLEYWHITE
(1877 – 14.12.1915)
Charles was the youngest of the seven children of gamekeeper William Lilleywhite and his wife Charlotte. He grew up at Thursley in Surrey, but after his marriage to Elizabeth Mansell in June 1902, moved to Gardners Farm, Steep near Petersfield, where he too worked as a gamekeeper. Charles and Elizabeth had two children, Harold and Barbara before Charles enlisted in the Hampshire Regiment, despite being officially too old. Charles died in England on December 14th 1915.

Oswald HORSLEY MC and Bar
(14.2.1893 – 19.8.1918)
Oswald was the second son and middle child of Sir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley and his wife Eldred (née Bramwell). Sir Victor Horsley, a physician, was the son of John Callcott Horsley RA, artist and the designer of the first Christmas card, as well as the nephew by marriage of Isambard Kingdom Brunel; his wife, Eldred was the daughter of Sir Frederick Bramwell, a civil servant and mechanical engineer. At the beginning of the First World War, Sir Victor, keen to serve his country, volunteered as a surgeon and was sent as a Colonel and Director of Surgery to the British Army Medical Service in Egypt. From here, he was sent on to Mesopotamia, where he died on 16th July 1916 of heatstroke. Oswald, meanwhile, began his war service on 3rd August 1914 when he joined the Artist’s Rifles, being awarded a commission with the Gordon Highlanders. He served at the front throughout 1915-1916, and was awarded his first MC in October 1916, the citation for which read as follows: “For conspicuous gallantry in action. He led the first line of the advance, capturing and consolidating his objective. Though wounded and put into a shell-hole, he continued to direct operations and refused to be moved back till the position was safe.” During his time at the front he was wounded three times, the third time being so severe that he was no longer able to continue serving with the infantry, so he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in August 1917. Once Oswald had earned his wings, that December, he remained on the Western Front for the next six months, undertaking many dangerous sorties, as a result of which he earned a second Military Cross, which was gazetted on 22nd June 1918 and read as follows: “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He has brought down completely out of control three hostile machines, and of two others which he engaged one he fought to within a distance of 200 feet from the ground, forcing it to land, the second spinning down to the ground out of control, he being unable to observe it crash owing to the presence of other hostile machines. He has carried out accurate and valuable reconnaissances, and has set a magnificent example of determined gallantry and skill whilst leading low-flying and bombing patrols.” By now promoted to Captain, Horsley was placed on the relatively safe “home establishment” in July 1918, where he was killed in a crash on August 19th, together with his observer, caused by mechanical failure.

Literary Connections: Julian Grenfell

To download a printable A3 size version of this literary connection, showing the links between Julian Grenfell, Ronald Knox, Siegfried Sassoon, Katharine Asquith (née Horner) and Margot Asquith, please click on the link below.

Born in Lancaster on 10th August 1869, Laurence Binyon was the second of the nine children of Frederick and Mary Binyon, who both came from Quaker families and Frederick was the vicar of Burton-in-Lonsdale, Yorkshire. Laurence was awarded a scholarship to St Paul’s School, London and then went on to Trinity College, Oxford. He was a published poet by the age of sixteen and won the Newdigate prize for poetry in 1890.

Following his graduation, Binyon started work at the British Museum, beginning in the Department of Printed Books, before transferring to the Department of Prints and Drawings in 1895. He showed a particular interest in Chinese, Japanese and Indian art and built up the Museum’s collections within these genres.

In 1904, Binyon married Cicely Margaret Prior Powell, who was seven years younger, and the couple went on to have three daughters: twins Helen and Margaret, followed by Nicolete, who was born in 1911. By this time, Binyon had been promoted to Assistant Keeper and the family moved from Tite Street in Chelsea to 118 Belgrave Road, Pimlico.

Having instigated a sub-department of Oriental Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, Binyon became its first Head in 1913. The First World War began in August of the following year and on 21st September, The Times published a poem by Binyon entitled For The Fallen, which contains one of the most quoted verses of poetry ever written. Given the early date of composition and publication, this poem is remarkably prophetic and, when read as a whole, is a haunting tribute not only to The Fallen, but to the author himself.

Although he was to old to enlist himself, Binyon served during the conflict, as an orderly in Military Hospitals in France during 1915 and 1916 and worked for the Red Cross during 1917.

After the war, Binyon returned to the British Museum and wrote numerous books on Oriental art, as well as continuing to publish poetry. He was promoted, once again, to become Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings, where he remained until his retirement in 1933. The following year was spent as Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University.

Upon his return to England in June 1934, he and Cecily bought a farmhouse in Berkshire and he settled down to writing poetry, although he continued to organise exhibitions of Far Eastern Art. Binyon died on 10th March 1943 and was mourned by those who knew him as a ‘warm’ and ‘happy’ man, who very probably always appreciated that he, unlike so many others, had been allowed to grow old.

Although Siegfried Sassoon never lived in the village of Mells, it is a remarkably fitting resting-place for the poet and author – in a quintessentially English churchyard, surrounded by lush green fields, which reflect his life-long love of the countryside.

Arriving in this tranquil Wiltshire village, visitors can hardly fail to feel as though they have stepped back in time: to a simpler, more peaceful age where leafy lanes and Bath Stone cottages abound. The village war memorial gives the first clues as to the wealth of interest that lies in store. The memorial itself is of unusual design – a Tuscan column surmounted by the figure of St George slaying the dragon. This, in common with many other pieces in the village is the work of the architect Edwin Lutyens.

The first name on the memorial to those who died in the 1914-1918 conflict is that of Raymond Asquith, the son of the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith who held office between 1908 and 1916. Raymond Asquith had, in 1907, married Katharine Horner, whose family lived at Mells Manor, near to the church. Raymond, a war poet himself, saw service with the Grenadier Guards and was killed on 15th September 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. A week later, fellow poet Edward ‘Bim’ Tennant was also killed and the two men are buried near the entrance to the Guillemont Road Cemetary. Asquith’s is the first of fourteen names on this memorial, which also includes that of Edward Horner, his brother-in-law and heir to the Mells estate.

Within the church itself are further reminders of the village’s losses during the World Wars. Among these a plaque commemorating the dead can be found on the wall together with a memorial to Raymond Asquith which takes the form of a Latin inscription and a bronze laurel wreath, also designed by Lutyens. The Latin translates as follows:

In loving memory of Raymond Asquith

Scholar of Winchester College and Balliol College Fellow of All Souls College

Who was destined by the hopes and desires of his contemporaries

To win all the rewards of intellectual talent and virtue.

In the middle of the flower of his life

He took up arms for his native-land and died fighting bravely.

A distant and friendly land holds him now he is dead.

His family and friends mourn him with unrequited longing.

Born on the 6th of November 1878, died on the 15th September 1915.

The Horner Chapel houses further reminders of the human cost of the First World War. Dominating this room is an equestrian statue dedicated to Edward Horner and near the window there is also a wooden tablet which bears the inscription:

EDWARD WILLIAM HORNER

LIEUTENANT IN THE EIGHTEENTH HUSSARS

WHO WAS BORN ON THE 3RD OF MAY 1888 AND DIED ON THE 21ST OF NOVEMBER 1917

HE WAS GREATLY LOVED IN HIS HOME AT MELLS BUT WITH EAGER VALOUR HE LEFT HIS HERITAGE AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR TO FIGHT IN FRANCE. SEVERELY WOUNDED AT YPRES HE RECOVERED AND RETURNED TO HIS REGIMENT AND FELL AT LAST IN PICARDY WHILST DEFENDING THE VILLAGE OF NOYELLES AGAINST THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI. THUS IN THE MORNING OF HIS YOUTH HE HASTENED TO REJOIN HIS FRIENDS AND COMRADES BY A SWIFT AND NOBLE DEATH.

HIS GRAVE IS AT FINS NEAR ETRECOURT AND HIS ONLY BROTHER MARK IS BURIED IN THIS CHURCHYARD. IN THEIR LIVES THEY WERE THE LOVE OF MANY AND HAVING DIED THEY ARE NOT DEAD.

The long-term effects on the Horner and Asquith families of these two deaths mirror those felt by families throughout the country. In common with many of the fallen, these two men are buried near where they died in France, but their original wooden grave markers have been brought back to Mells and are in the Horner Chapel – slivers of history which bring the horror of the war to life in an evocative and thought-provoking manner.

In the graveyard lie many members of the Horner family, including Raymond’s widow, Katharine and her parents, Sir John and Lady Frances Horner. In addition, one can also see the graves of Helen Violet Asquith, who went by her middle name, and her husband Sir Maurice Bonham-Carter. Set in amongst these family headstones is one belonging to the Ronald Knox, a Catholic preacher and writer who had spent the last few years of his life living in Mells.

Just a few yards away from Monseigneur Knox’s grave lies that of Siegfried Sassoon. The headstone is plain and simple.

During his life, Sassoon had been well acquainted with Katharine Asquith, frequently visiting Mells. In addition, he had spent a great deal of time at nearby Wilsford, the family home of Stephen Tennant. In 1934 he bought Heytesbury – a large house and estate in the village of the same name – which lies some 20 miles from Mells, and lived there until his death. Therefore, his love for this part of the country, together with his association with the Horner family might be seen as a reason for his choice of burial site. However, the real reason lies in his desire to be buried near Ronald Knox, who had helped and advised him during his conversion to Catholicism in 1957, which was only achieved days before Knox’s death.

Sitting in the shade of a huge Yew tree in the graveyard, one has time to reflect on an apt resting-place for a man who spent most of his life searching for peace. Surrounded by friends, Knox in particular, in a beautiful, tranquil, English village churchyard, one can almost imagine the satisfied smile on his face. As in his life, though, he can never quite escape his memories of the First World War – nor would he wish to.