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Thread: “And this is our Fate: When the Gods are kind/Our existence shall simply cease/A sniper's bullet - a trench that's mined/God-speed, and quick release!” These lines are taken from the final stanza of a poem entitled ‘The Moles’ written by Captain Cyril Horne, ... (1/13)
...an Irish writer, poet and musical comedy performer who lost his life in the #FWW whilst serving in a Scottish Inf Bn (7 KOSB). Horne would be just one of 215 men and women commemorated by the CWGC who were to die #OTD in 1916. Sadly, the Gods were not kind; Horne... (2/13)
...would die not from a sniper's bullet or a trench mine but from the burst of an enemy shrapnel shell which exploded over his head as he and two fellow officers rushed into no man's land in a forlorn attempt to rescue a wounded comrade. Cyril Horne had led a... (3/13)
...colourful life. Born in Dublin on 22 Mar 1886 he had served in the Indian Army prior to the war. In India he had commanded a unit of Sikhs, acted as an ADC to Lord Kitchener, and his final appointment would be in London on the personal staff of the future King George V. (4/13)
And yet, still in his early 20s, he would give this all this up to pursue a career on the stage. In 1910 Horne appeared in a leading role at London's Prince of Wales Theatre and, later that same year, travelled to the USA where, over the next few seasons, he appeared in... (5/13)
...no less than four Broadway musicals. In 1911 Horne married Marie Ditzen, a Scottish born, but naturalised American, fellow actor. At this time, as well as acting, Horne wrote and performed songs and even wrote an opera. However, his stage career was cut short by... (6/13)
...the war in Europe. Feeling compelled to serve, Horne returned to the UK and took up a commission in a Kitchener Bn of the KOSB. In the summer of 1915, aged 28, he went to France as the unit’s Tpt Offr. Here he would be one of the very few officers in the Bn to... (7/13)
...survive the opening day of the Battle of Loos, following which he took command of A Coy. During almost a year in the trenches, Horne would write songs and poems which he sent back, piecemeal, to his wife in America. These would eventually appear in a posthumous... (8/13)
...collection entitled “Songs of the Shrapnel Shell and Other Verse”. Capt Horne and 2Lt Thomas Miller lie side by side in Mazingarbe Communal Cemetery. The third officer involved in the mercy dash, Lt Jeffery Penfold, who died the next day, is buried in Noeux-les-Mines...(9/13)
...Communal Cemetery. The inscription on his headstone is a quotation from one of his own poems, Aftermath, taken from his book, Songs of the Shrapnel Shell and Other Verse. (10/13)
This is what I have gleaned about Cyril Horne from open sources on the Internet and the books on my shelves. (11/13) https://www.evernote.com/l/AQScoBZ2xb1HHYXYoV8rCxrLQC5yTg20fpM
You can also refer to this excellent blog post by @wherrypilgrim at
https://behindtheirlines.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-law-of-trench.html
(12/13)
@PMcCXXV @churchill_alex
https://behindtheirlines.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-law-of-trench.html
(12/13)
@PMcCXXV @churchill_alex
(Note: All sources are acknowledged and, where possible, I have tried to contact copyright holders in advance. However, if you are unhappy that I have infringed your rights please DM me so that I do not repeat that mistake in future). (13/13)