The Winding Road Unfolds

[jay dubaya]

Have just finished reading 'The Winding Road Unfolds' by T S Hope. 6 months of hell on the Western Front as experenced by a 16 year old infantryman in late 1917. Each Chapter begins with a brief diary entry and followed by an in depth reflection of that period. A good read of what appears to be a scarce book, but who was T S Hope? It's evident that he was a Scot serving with a Scottish regiment and all the names in the book have been changed. How did a 16 year old get shipped out to France in June 1917?

All thoughts and comments welcomed,

cheers, Jon

[truthergw]

Pure guesswork of course but he may have enlisted in Autumn 1916 on a false age. After 9 months training, sent overseas with his draught. He may have been just a few days short of 17, which still makes him very young. One hesitates to suggest that he may have been slightly confused as to his own age when he came to write the book. With all names changed, lacking further information it seems it may have to stay a mystery. The fact that he served in a Scots regiment might just be down to a tall youngster hopping a train and enlisting well away from his hometown. Underage soldiers were not all that uncommon and seem to have been accepted as long as they were capable of the effort. People left school at 14 then and could work part-time from the age of 12. In Scotland, they could marry at 16. A youngster of 17 in Scotland could quite legally be a married man with a child and have been working for 4 years or so. Different expectations for a different time.

[jay dubaya]

Thanks Tom, I did wonder about the authenticity of the book and the author although I have no good reason to doubt it. Why he concealed his own name and the names of his pals baffled me a little especially since the died on the battlefields. The forward is dated 1937 but I think the actual text may have been written much earlier. He was wounded in December 1917 and sent back to Blighty and this is where the book ends. Maybe the book was written whilst convalesing and he waited for the 20th anniversary of his own experiences to release it. Like yoy say though Tom, maybe it will have to remain a mystery,

cheers, Jon

[Simon Jones]

The author is Thomas Suthren Hope whom I have been unable to trace, although the 1901 Scottish census has as possible, born 1900 and living at 12 Parkvale Place, Leith. In the book he arrives at Ypres on 20/7/17, age 16 but officially 19.

He is part of the 55th West Lancashire Division and I am pretty sure he was in the 1/5th King’s Liverpool.

S

[jay dubaya]

Excellent Simon,

may I ask why you think he was with the 1/5th King's? There is one sentence in the book where he and his pals are being harrased by a group of French boys who call them 'Ecosse' and I presumed this was because of the soldiers attire,

and not perhaps their dialect, any thoughts?

Jon