Neat Little Rows

[mhurst]

“Neat Little Rows – The Black Country Grenadier” tells the story of Andrew Mark Rudall’s quest to find out about his great-uncle Harry’s service in the Grenadier Guards. He first heard about it through a family story and gradually uncovered the full details, from Harry’s enlistment in 1911 to his death in action in April 1918.

The author makes no claim to be either historian or writer. However, his research shows that he has learned the ropes of historical enquiry very quickly, and he clearly has a writing style although, as he admits himself, this can be highly idiosyncratic (“Andy-speak”), and may not appeal to all readers.

Harry and his family came from the Black Country, with its proud tradition of craftsmanship and highly individual dialect, examples (with translations) of which are given in the text to give a flavour of the speech patterns. At first the author was puzzled that someone from that part of the country could have been accepted into the elite Grenadier Guards, but as he found out from a present day Guards colonel, men were often recruited from what is considered as the “spine of England”.

Harry’s battalion, the 4^th Grenadiers, was part of the “Immortal” 7^th Division which landed at Zebrugge in October 1914 and later took part in the heavy fighting at Ypres, losing 75% of its fighting strength by the close of the battle. He soldiered on throughout the battles of 1915, being wounded once, and finally being transferred to a reserve battalion in England in March 1916, where he stayed for two years before returning to the Western front in April 1918. He died from wounds received in action on the Lys the day after his return to the front line.

For those already knowledgeable about the war, the author’s accounts of its origins and what life was like for soldiers in the trenches may seem a little simplistic and off-putting, but it should be remembered that the book is written primarily for people who are, like the author was himself, largely ignorant of the war. But that should not deter Pals from discovering the very personal story that the author unravelled, one which may be similar to others already in print, but which is no less moving for all that.

For Harry wrote continually to his sweetheart, Olive, whom he later married, and some of these letters and postcards have been kept safely in the family for nearly a hundred years. Extracts are reproduced at the appropriate points in the account of Harry’s life, and are a poignant commentary on his experiences, since we know that Harry didn’t survive the war, while his beloved Olive lived for so long in constant hope of his safe return. Harry became a father while back in England, but he probably saw little of his baby before having to return to the war.

One postcard sent to Olive in early 1915 alludes to a meeting with German soldiers on Boxing Day – in what we now know as the Christmas Truce. Intriguingly, the postcard bears the names of two Germans whom Harry met, one of whose fate later in the war was traced by the author. One long letter was smuggled out with a friend going on leave on compassionate grounds (for whom Harry had given up his turn for leave) and thus contained details of where Harry had been which would otherwise have not passed the censor. In his letters, Harry mentions several times that he doesn’t know how he has survived a recent battle, and describes the awful conditions in which he and his comrades have to live.

The book contains many photographs of Harry, his comrades who were killed on the same day and who are buried alongside him, their gravestones (forming the “neat rows” of the book’s title), and many others relating to the story. But the one which stands out is of Harry and Olive, smiling broadly, standing for all the loving relationships which were cut short by the war.

In a sad postscript, the author describes learning of the recent death in action in Afghanistan of a young Black Country Grenadier Guardsman, Daniel Probyn, which touched the author with its similarity to the background and fate of Harry, and which led him to meet and offer some comfort to the bereaved parents of the young soldier.

“Neat Little Rows”, while perhaps not in the same vein as other more scholarly works, nevertheless would be of considerable value to anyone interested in the FWW, and has the power to move.

It is well worth the read.