Author: Christopher Arnander
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473829968
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
From Britain’s only Cabinet-level politician to serve in the ranks during World War I, diary entries and letters detailing life on the Western Front. This unusual account is written by the 27th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, an active Lancashire MP for eighteen years until he inherited the title on his father’s death in 1913. In 1915 his sense of patriotic duty drove him to join the RAMC as a Private, although he was married with seven children, head of a large company and well over age. Despite his privileged status in civilian life, he cheerfully served as a humble medical orderly on the Western Front for some fourteen months and was given responsibility for two operating theatres. A gifted author and diarist, his daily entries provide a fascinating insight into life near the front over this period and, together with his letters home, his writings reflect the stark contrast between his home life and the one he experienced in Flanders. Of particular interest are his astute observations on his contemporaries of all ranks, the conduct of the war, medical services and life in wartime France. Remarkably he never complains at his lot (although often sharply critical of GHQ and politicians) or regrets his decision. As the author was the only Cabinet-level politician to serve “in the ranks” during the conflict, this is a record without any parallel. In 1916 Crawford was persuaded eventually to return to London and join Asquith’s Cabinet before staying on under Lloyd George until 1922. After the war, he became a director, trustee or advisor of several museums, such as the British Museum, National Gallery and others. The Crawford Papers (his diaries, edited by Prof. John Vincent) describe his civilian experiences from 1892 to 1940 and are seen as an invaluable source for students of politics, art, industry and society in Britain. The book contains three maps and seventy-five illustrations. This fascinating book fills a needy gap at a time of unprecedented interest in The Great War. Praise for Private Lord Crawford’s Great War Diaries One of The Times “Books of the Year” 2013 “[Crawford’s] previously unpublished war diaries, meticulously edited by his grandson, offer a fascinating glimpse into life at the front and in the upper reaches of politics at home—and contain some frank comments on his former Cabinet colleagues.” —Literary Review “Lord Crawford was the only Cabinet-level politician to serve “in the ranks” during World War I as a private. A gifted author and diarist, his daily entries provide a fascinating insight into life in the frontline over a fourteen-month period.” —History Scotland
Private Lord Crawford's Great War Diaries
Author: Christopher Arnander
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473829968
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
From Britain’s only Cabinet-level politician to serve in the ranks during World War I, diary entries and letters detailing life on the Western Front. This unusual account is written by the 27th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, an active Lancashire MP for eighteen years until he inherited the title on his father’s death in 1913. In 1915 his sense of patriotic duty drove him to join the RAMC as a Private, although he was married with seven children, head of a large company and well over age. Despite his privileged status in civilian life, he cheerfully served as a humble medical orderly on the Western Front for some fourteen months and was given responsibility for two operating theatres. A gifted author and diarist, his daily entries provide a fascinating insight into life near the front over this period and, together with his letters home, his writings reflect the stark contrast between his home life and the one he experienced in Flanders. Of particular interest are his astute observations on his contemporaries of all ranks, the conduct of the war, medical services and life in wartime France. Remarkably he never complains at his lot (although often sharply critical of GHQ and politicians) or regrets his decision. As the author was the only Cabinet-level politician to serve “in the ranks” during the conflict, this is a record without any parallel. In 1916 Crawford was persuaded eventually to return to London and join Asquith’s Cabinet before staying on under Lloyd George until 1922. After the war, he became a director, trustee or advisor of several museums, such as the British Museum, National Gallery and others. The Crawford Papers (his diaries, edited by Prof. John Vincent) describe his civilian experiences from 1892 to 1940 and are seen as an invaluable source for students of politics, art, industry and society in Britain. The book contains three maps and seventy-five illustrations. This fascinating book fills a needy gap at a time of unprecedented interest in The Great War. Praise for Private Lord Crawford’s Great War Diaries One of The Times “Books of the Year” 2013 “[Crawford’s] previously unpublished war diaries, meticulously edited by his grandson, offer a fascinating glimpse into life at the front and in the upper reaches of politics at home—and contain some frank comments on his former Cabinet colleagues.” —Literary Review “Lord Crawford was the only Cabinet-level politician to serve “in the ranks” during World War I as a private. A gifted author and diarist, his daily entries provide a fascinating insight into life in the frontline over a fourteen-month period.” —History Scotland
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473829968
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
From Britain’s only Cabinet-level politician to serve in the ranks during World War I, diary entries and letters detailing life on the Western Front. This unusual account is written by the 27th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, an active Lancashire MP for eighteen years until he inherited the title on his father’s death in 1913. In 1915 his sense of patriotic duty drove him to join the RAMC as a Private, although he was married with seven children, head of a large company and well over age. Despite his privileged status in civilian life, he cheerfully served as a humble medical orderly on the Western Front for some fourteen months and was given responsibility for two operating theatres. A gifted author and diarist, his daily entries provide a fascinating insight into life near the front over this period and, together with his letters home, his writings reflect the stark contrast between his home life and the one he experienced in Flanders. Of particular interest are his astute observations on his contemporaries of all ranks, the conduct of the war, medical services and life in wartime France. Remarkably he never complains at his lot (although often sharply critical of GHQ and politicians) or regrets his decision. As the author was the only Cabinet-level politician to serve “in the ranks” during the conflict, this is a record without any parallel. In 1916 Crawford was persuaded eventually to return to London and join Asquith’s Cabinet before staying on under Lloyd George until 1922. After the war, he became a director, trustee or advisor of several museums, such as the British Museum, National Gallery and others. The Crawford Papers (his diaries, edited by Prof. John Vincent) describe his civilian experiences from 1892 to 1940 and are seen as an invaluable source for students of politics, art, industry and society in Britain. The book contains three maps and seventy-five illustrations. This fascinating book fills a needy gap at a time of unprecedented interest in The Great War. Praise for Private Lord Crawford’s Great War Diaries One of The Times “Books of the Year” 2013 “[Crawford’s] previously unpublished war diaries, meticulously edited by his grandson, offer a fascinating glimpse into life at the front and in the upper reaches of politics at home—and contain some frank comments on his former Cabinet colleagues.” —Literary Review “Lord Crawford was the only Cabinet-level politician to serve “in the ranks” during World War I as a private. A gifted author and diarist, his daily entries provide a fascinating insight into life in the frontline over a fourteen-month period.” —History Scotland
The Medics of World War One
Author: Kevin Hargreaves
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 024474422X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
'Medics' takes a look at the role men played in the care of the sick and wounded during World War One. There is a certain perception, and certainly if one looks at the so-called docudramas related to the injured servicemen during World War One, it would appear that men played no role in the sick and injured men's care. It would be very easy to get the impression that all the care was given by the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. This is not the case; the care of the sick and wounded actually started in no man's land where they were cared for by the regimental stretcher-bearers and the RAMC orderlies all the way down the line to the Casualty Clearing Stations and even in the General Hospitals. Throughout the text we follow the journey of the wounded from no man's land, down the evacuation chain to the general hospital in England and the colonies, and illustrate the role that the male caregivers undertook in the care of the wounded.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 024474422X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
'Medics' takes a look at the role men played in the care of the sick and wounded during World War One. There is a certain perception, and certainly if one looks at the so-called docudramas related to the injured servicemen during World War One, it would appear that men played no role in the sick and injured men's care. It would be very easy to get the impression that all the care was given by the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. This is not the case; the care of the sick and wounded actually started in no man's land where they were cared for by the regimental stretcher-bearers and the RAMC orderlies all the way down the line to the Casualty Clearing Stations and even in the General Hospitals. Throughout the text we follow the journey of the wounded from no man's land, down the evacuation chain to the general hospital in England and the colonies, and illustrate the role that the male caregivers undertook in the care of the wounded.
Friends in Flanders
Author: Linda Palfreeman
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1782844392
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 189
Book Description
The Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU) was created shortly after the outbreak of war. The idea of the unit's founder, Philip J. Baker, was that it would provide young Friends (Quakers) with the opportunity to serve their country without sacrificing their pacifist principles. The first volunteers went to Belgium on 31 October 1914, under the auspices of the Joint War Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The FAU made a sustained contribution to the military medical services of the Allied nations, establishing military hospitals, running ambulance convoys, and staffing hospital ships and ambulance trains, treating and transporting wounded men. Determined to bring succour to all those in need, the FAU also assisted civilians trapped in the war zone and living in desperate circumstances. Nowhere was this more acute than in the besieged and battered town of Ypres where thousands sheltered in the underground passage-ways of the towns ancient fortifications -- a subterranean population, 'hopeless, often lightless,' wrote Geoffrey Young, the Units young field commander, living on what they might and breeding disease. The Unit provided hospitals for the treatment of civilians, and worked intensively in the containment and treatment of the typhoid epidemic that swept the region, locating sufferers, providing them with medical care, and inoculating people against the disease. It played a major role in the purification of the town's contaminated drinking water, distributed milk for infants and food and clothing to the sick and needy. It helped found orphanages, made provision for schooling and organised gainful employment for refugees until, finally, it became responsible for the definitive evacuations of the civilian population.
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1782844392
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 189
Book Description
The Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU) was created shortly after the outbreak of war. The idea of the unit's founder, Philip J. Baker, was that it would provide young Friends (Quakers) with the opportunity to serve their country without sacrificing their pacifist principles. The first volunteers went to Belgium on 31 October 1914, under the auspices of the Joint War Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The FAU made a sustained contribution to the military medical services of the Allied nations, establishing military hospitals, running ambulance convoys, and staffing hospital ships and ambulance trains, treating and transporting wounded men. Determined to bring succour to all those in need, the FAU also assisted civilians trapped in the war zone and living in desperate circumstances. Nowhere was this more acute than in the besieged and battered town of Ypres where thousands sheltered in the underground passage-ways of the towns ancient fortifications -- a subterranean population, 'hopeless, often lightless,' wrote Geoffrey Young, the Units young field commander, living on what they might and breeding disease. The Unit provided hospitals for the treatment of civilians, and worked intensively in the containment and treatment of the typhoid epidemic that swept the region, locating sufferers, providing them with medical care, and inoculating people against the disease. It played a major role in the purification of the town's contaminated drinking water, distributed milk for infants and food and clothing to the sick and needy. It helped found orphanages, made provision for schooling and organised gainful employment for refugees until, finally, it became responsible for the definitive evacuations of the civilian population.
For King and Country
Author: Heather Jones
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108682960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 591
Book Description
This is a ground-breaking history of the British monarchy in the First World War and of the social and cultural functions of monarchism in the British war effort. Heather Jones examines how the conflict changed British cultural attitudes to the monarchy, arguing that the conflict ultimately helped to consolidate the crown's sacralised status. She looks at how the monarchy engaged with war recruitment, bereavement, gender norms, as well as at its political and military powers and its relationship with Ireland and the empire. She considers the role that monarchism played in military culture and examines royal visits to the front, as well as the monarchy's role in home front morale and in interwar war commemoration. Her findings suggest that the rise of republicanism in wartime Britain has been overestimated and that war commemoration was central to the monarchy's revered interwar status up to the abdication crisis.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108682960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 591
Book Description
This is a ground-breaking history of the British monarchy in the First World War and of the social and cultural functions of monarchism in the British war effort. Heather Jones examines how the conflict changed British cultural attitudes to the monarchy, arguing that the conflict ultimately helped to consolidate the crown's sacralised status. She looks at how the monarchy engaged with war recruitment, bereavement, gender norms, as well as at its political and military powers and its relationship with Ireland and the empire. She considers the role that monarchism played in military culture and examines royal visits to the front, as well as the monarchy's role in home front morale and in interwar war commemoration. Her findings suggest that the rise of republicanism in wartime Britain has been overestimated and that war commemoration was central to the monarchy's revered interwar status up to the abdication crisis.
Roll of Honour
Author: Barry Blades
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1473873894
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
The Great War was the first 'Total War'; a war in which human and material resources were pitched into a life-and-death struggle on a colossal scale. British citizens fought on both the Battle Fronts and on the Home Front, on the killing fields of France and Flanders as well as in the industrial workshops of 'Blighty'. Men, women and children all played their part in an unprecedented mobilisation of a nation at war. Unlike much of the traditional literature on the Great War, with its understandable fascination with the terrible experiences of 'Tommy in the Trenches', Roll of Honour shifts our gaze. It focuses on how the Great War was experienced by other key participants, namely those communities involved in 'schooling' the nation's children. It emphasises the need to examine the 'myriad faces of war', rather than traditional stereotypes, if we are to gain a deeper understanding of personal agency and decision making in times of conflict and upheaval. The dramatis personae in Roll of Honour include Head Teachers and Governors charged by the Government with mobilising their 'troops'; school masters, whose enlistment, conscription or conscientious objection to military service changed lives and career paths; the 'temporary' school mistresses who sought to demonstrate their 'interchangeability' in male dominated institutions; the school alumni who thought of school whilst knee-deep in mud; and finally, of course, the school children themselves, whose 'campaigns' added vital resources to the war economy. These 'myriad faces' existed in all types of British school, from the elite Public Schools to the elementary schools designed for the country's poorest waifs and strays. This powerful account of the Great War will be of interest to general readers as well as historians of military campaigns, education and British society.
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1473873894
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
The Great War was the first 'Total War'; a war in which human and material resources were pitched into a life-and-death struggle on a colossal scale. British citizens fought on both the Battle Fronts and on the Home Front, on the killing fields of France and Flanders as well as in the industrial workshops of 'Blighty'. Men, women and children all played their part in an unprecedented mobilisation of a nation at war. Unlike much of the traditional literature on the Great War, with its understandable fascination with the terrible experiences of 'Tommy in the Trenches', Roll of Honour shifts our gaze. It focuses on how the Great War was experienced by other key participants, namely those communities involved in 'schooling' the nation's children. It emphasises the need to examine the 'myriad faces of war', rather than traditional stereotypes, if we are to gain a deeper understanding of personal agency and decision making in times of conflict and upheaval. The dramatis personae in Roll of Honour include Head Teachers and Governors charged by the Government with mobilising their 'troops'; school masters, whose enlistment, conscription or conscientious objection to military service changed lives and career paths; the 'temporary' school mistresses who sought to demonstrate their 'interchangeability' in male dominated institutions; the school alumni who thought of school whilst knee-deep in mud; and finally, of course, the school children themselves, whose 'campaigns' added vital resources to the war economy. These 'myriad faces' existed in all types of British school, from the elite Public Schools to the elementary schools designed for the country's poorest waifs and strays. This powerful account of the Great War will be of interest to general readers as well as historians of military campaigns, education and British society.
The Critical Temper
Author: Roger Kimball
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1641772182
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 562
Book Description
On the occasion of its fortieth anniversary, The New Criterion has brought together a plump chrestomathy of essays demonstrating its range and acuity as America’s foremost review of culture and the arts. With contributions by Bruce Bawer, Anthony Daniels, Denis Donoghue, Joseph Epstein, John Steele Gordon, Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Hill, Donald Kagan, Roger Kimball, Heather Mac Donald, Myron Magnet, Andrew C. McCarthy, David Pryce-Jones, Andrew Roberts, Alexander McCall Smith, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Keith Windschuttle, and many others, this collection of fifty essays brings you the best of the best: incisive cultural criticism, scintillating historical analysis, and robust commentary about the way we live now. Edited by Roger Kimball, this spiritual Baedeker is a timely repository of timeless writing about the figures, controversies, and challenges that define our life in the 2020s.
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1641772182
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 562
Book Description
On the occasion of its fortieth anniversary, The New Criterion has brought together a plump chrestomathy of essays demonstrating its range and acuity as America’s foremost review of culture and the arts. With contributions by Bruce Bawer, Anthony Daniels, Denis Donoghue, Joseph Epstein, John Steele Gordon, Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Hill, Donald Kagan, Roger Kimball, Heather Mac Donald, Myron Magnet, Andrew C. McCarthy, David Pryce-Jones, Andrew Roberts, Alexander McCall Smith, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Keith Windschuttle, and many others, this collection of fifty essays brings you the best of the best: incisive cultural criticism, scintillating historical analysis, and robust commentary about the way we live now. Edited by Roger Kimball, this spiritual Baedeker is a timely repository of timeless writing about the figures, controversies, and challenges that define our life in the 2020s.
Posh Boys
Author: Robert Verkaik
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1786073846
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 447
Book Description
‘The latest in the series of powerful books on the divisions in modern Britain, and will take its place on many bookshelves beside Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race and Owen Jones’s Chavs.’ –Andrew Marr, Sunday Times ‘In his fascinating, enraging polemic, Verkaik touches on one of the strangest aspects of the elite schools and their product’s domination of public life for two and a half centuries: the acquiescence of everyone else.’ –Observer In Britain today, the government, judiciary and military are all led by an elite who attended private school. Under their watch, our society has become increasingly divided and the gap between rich and poor is now greater than ever before. Is this the country we want to live in? If we care about inequality, we have to talk about public schools. Robert Verkaik issues a searing indictment of the system originally intended to educate the most underprivileged Britons, and outlines how, through meaningful reform, we can finally make society fairer for all.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1786073846
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 447
Book Description
‘The latest in the series of powerful books on the divisions in modern Britain, and will take its place on many bookshelves beside Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race and Owen Jones’s Chavs.’ –Andrew Marr, Sunday Times ‘In his fascinating, enraging polemic, Verkaik touches on one of the strangest aspects of the elite schools and their product’s domination of public life for two and a half centuries: the acquiescence of everyone else.’ –Observer In Britain today, the government, judiciary and military are all led by an elite who attended private school. Under their watch, our society has become increasingly divided and the gap between rich and poor is now greater than ever before. Is this the country we want to live in? If we care about inequality, we have to talk about public schools. Robert Verkaik issues a searing indictment of the system originally intended to educate the most underprivileged Britons, and outlines how, through meaningful reform, we can finally make society fairer for all.
Grandad's Army
Author: Mike Osborne
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 418
Book Description
In August 1914, on the outbreak of the First World War, there was enormous pressure on men to enlist in Kitchener's New Armies, supplementing the tiny regular army and Territorial Force. This pressure was intense, and posters, the entreaties of local worthies, and an apparently indiscriminate scattering of white feathers, all exacerbated masculine sensitivity. We are all familiar, if only through BBC TV's 'Dad's Army', with the Home Guard of the Second World War. Far less is known of their First World War equivalent: the Volunteer Training Corps (VTC). Like their counter-parts in WW2, the VTC comprised those who were too old, too young, too unfit or too indispensable to serve in the regular forces. They fought for the right to be armed, uniformed and trained; to be employed on meaningful duties; and at first, to exist at all. This book explores the origins, development and structure of the VTC, along with those who belonged to the many supporting medical, transport, police and youth organisations who kept the home fires burning or, in some cases, tried to put them out. The VTC arose from the need of those men who were forced to stay at home to be seen to be doing their bit. They saw the removal of the bulk of both the regular army and the Territorial Force to the Western Front as their opportunity to prepare to resist the expected German invasion of Britain, and as a way of countering accusations of shirking, or even cowardice.
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 418
Book Description
In August 1914, on the outbreak of the First World War, there was enormous pressure on men to enlist in Kitchener's New Armies, supplementing the tiny regular army and Territorial Force. This pressure was intense, and posters, the entreaties of local worthies, and an apparently indiscriminate scattering of white feathers, all exacerbated masculine sensitivity. We are all familiar, if only through BBC TV's 'Dad's Army', with the Home Guard of the Second World War. Far less is known of their First World War equivalent: the Volunteer Training Corps (VTC). Like their counter-parts in WW2, the VTC comprised those who were too old, too young, too unfit or too indispensable to serve in the regular forces. They fought for the right to be armed, uniformed and trained; to be employed on meaningful duties; and at first, to exist at all. This book explores the origins, development and structure of the VTC, along with those who belonged to the many supporting medical, transport, police and youth organisations who kept the home fires burning or, in some cases, tried to put them out. The VTC arose from the need of those men who were forced to stay at home to be seen to be doing their bit. They saw the removal of the bulk of both the regular army and the Territorial Force to the Western Front as their opportunity to prepare to resist the expected German invasion of Britain, and as a way of countering accusations of shirking, or even cowardice.
Betrayed Ally
Author: Frances Wood
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 147387503X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
The Great War helped China emerge from humiliation and obscurity and take its first tentative steps as a full member of the global community.In 1912 the Qing Dynasty had ended. President Yuan Shikai, who seized power in 1914, offered the British 50,000 troops to recover the German colony in Shandong but this was refused. In 1916 China sent a vast army of labourers to Europe. In 1917 she declared war on Germany despite this effectively making the real enemy Japan an ally.The betrayal came when Japan was awarded the former German colony. This inspired the rise of Chinese nationalism and communism, enflamed by Russia. The scene was set for Japans incursions into China and thirty years of bloodshed.One hundred years on, the time is right for this accessible and authoritative account of Chinas role in The Great War and assessment of its national and international significance
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 147387503X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
The Great War helped China emerge from humiliation and obscurity and take its first tentative steps as a full member of the global community.In 1912 the Qing Dynasty had ended. President Yuan Shikai, who seized power in 1914, offered the British 50,000 troops to recover the German colony in Shandong but this was refused. In 1916 China sent a vast army of labourers to Europe. In 1917 she declared war on Germany despite this effectively making the real enemy Japan an ally.The betrayal came when Japan was awarded the former German colony. This inspired the rise of Chinese nationalism and communism, enflamed by Russia. The scene was set for Japans incursions into China and thirty years of bloodshed.One hundred years on, the time is right for this accessible and authoritative account of Chinas role in The Great War and assessment of its national and international significance
Margot Asquith's Great War Diary 1914-1916
Author: Michael Brock
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191017086
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
Margot Asquith was the wife of Herbert Henry Asquith, the Liberal Prime Minister who led Britain into war in August 1914. Asquith's early war leadership drew praise from all quarters, but in December 1916 he was forced from office in a palace coup, and replaced by Lloyd George, whose career he had done so much to promote. Margot had both the literary gifts and the vantage point to create, in her diary of these years, a compelling record of her husband's fall from grace. An intellectual socialite with the airs, if not the lineage, of an aristocrat, Margot was both a spectator and a participant in the events she describes, and in public affairs could be an ally or an embarrassment - sometimes both. Her diary vividly evokes the wartime milieu as experienced in 10 Downing Street, and describes the great political battles that lay behind the warfare on the Western Front, in which Asquith would himself lose his eldest son. The writing teems with character sketches, including Lloyd George ('a natural adventurer who may make or mar himself any day'), Churchill ('Winston's vanity is septic'), and Kitchener ('a man brutal by nature and by pose'). Never previously published, this candid, witty, and worldly diary gives us a unique insider's view of the centre of power, and an introduction by Michael Brock, in addition to explanatory footnotes and appendices written with his wife Eleanor, provide the context and background information we need to appreciate them to the full.
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191017086
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
Margot Asquith was the wife of Herbert Henry Asquith, the Liberal Prime Minister who led Britain into war in August 1914. Asquith's early war leadership drew praise from all quarters, but in December 1916 he was forced from office in a palace coup, and replaced by Lloyd George, whose career he had done so much to promote. Margot had both the literary gifts and the vantage point to create, in her diary of these years, a compelling record of her husband's fall from grace. An intellectual socialite with the airs, if not the lineage, of an aristocrat, Margot was both a spectator and a participant in the events she describes, and in public affairs could be an ally or an embarrassment - sometimes both. Her diary vividly evokes the wartime milieu as experienced in 10 Downing Street, and describes the great political battles that lay behind the warfare on the Western Front, in which Asquith would himself lose his eldest son. The writing teems with character sketches, including Lloyd George ('a natural adventurer who may make or mar himself any day'), Churchill ('Winston's vanity is septic'), and Kitchener ('a man brutal by nature and by pose'). Never previously published, this candid, witty, and worldly diary gives us a unique insider's view of the centre of power, and an introduction by Michael Brock, in addition to explanatory footnotes and appendices written with his wife Eleanor, provide the context and background information we need to appreciate them to the full.