"Tig's Boys. Letters to Sir from the Trenches"

[Stoppage Drill]

Just bought myself a copy of this as my Christmas present to myself. Can't find a review on forum search ?

Edited by David Hilliam, published by Spellmount 2011.

It is a collection of letters, with commentaries, statistical summaries, and other associated letters, written by Old Boys and staff of Bournemouth Grammar School to their old headmaster, Dr Edward Fenwick ("Tig" - short for Tiger) during the course of the Great War.

Hilliam D is an ex- Deputy Head of BGS.

I have put it away until Christmas, but the initial flick-through the pages leads me to think I'm gonna be pretty choked up when I do let myself read it properly.

I know what you are thinking - there are 98 on the school memorial, the youngest being Spr William Alder, 55 Div Sig Coy RE. Apparently CWGC shows him aged 20, but he probably lied about his age, as school records show that he was 17 years and 67 days old as at his date of death.

[Guest]

Sounds like a 'good un' I think this will be his (William Alder) service record Wireless operator? Click

Mike

[Steven Broomfield]

How odd. My paternal grand-mother's maiden name was Alder, and she hailed from north Hampshire. Who knows, Spr Alder might be a distant relative.

[Chris_Baker]

I wrote a short review on my website and Amazon, back in 2011: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tigs-Boys-Letters-Sir-Trenches/dp/0752463314