Poet – Leslie Coulson
When war was declared in 1914, he was an assistant foreign editor on The Standard newspaper. He enlisted as a private in the 2/2nd Royal Fusiliers. The battalion saw action at Gallipoli, and in April 1916 it went to France where it was disbanded. Coulson, now a sergeant, was posted to the 1/12th Battalion The Rangers. On 1 July in a diversionary attack at Gommecourt, north of the main Somme offensive, the battalion had 17 officers out of 23, and 498 other ranks of 780 killed in action. On 7 October 1916 the battalion took part in the battle for Transloy Ridges. Leslie Coulson was shot in the chest and died, aged 27, on 8 October at Grove Town Casualty Clearing Station. He is buried in Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte. Grave I.J.24
Poem – Who Made the Law
Who Made the Law first appeared in Hibberd and Onions Anthology in 1986 and because of this has become familiar to readers of First World War poetry. Leslie Coulson’s poetry consisting of a slim volume was published posthumously in 1917. When his poems were published in 1917, his work and death lent themselves to the prevailing myth of innocent and willing sacrifice. This idealised portrait took no account of how twenty-two unbroken months of service, and in particular, five months on the Somme in 1916, changed the man and his writing. (1) Who Made the Law shows a comprehension of the horror and outrage of war and an awareness of evil that were growing in Coulson’s writing from Gallipoli onwards.
WHO MADE THE LAW?
Who made the Law that men should die in meadows?
Who spake the word that blood should splash in lanes?
Who gave it forth that gardens should be bone-yards?
Who spread the hills with flesh, and blood, and brains?
Who made the Law?
Who made the Law that Death should stalk the village?
Who spake the word to kill among the sheaves,
Who gave it forth that death should lurk in hedgerows,
Who flung the dead among the fallen leaves?
Who made the Law?
Those who return shall find that peace endures,
Find old things old, and know the things they knew,
Walk in the garden, slumber by the fireside,
Share the peace of dawn, and dream amid the dew
Those who return.
Those who return shall till the ancient pastures,
Clean-hearted men shall guide the plough-horse reins,
Some shall grow apples and flowers in the valleys,
Some shall go courting in summer down the lanes –
THOSE WHO RETURN.
But who made the Law? the Trees shall whisper to him:
“See, see the blood – the splashes on our bark!”
Walking the meadows, he shall hear bones crackle,
And fleshless mouths shall gibber in silent lanes at dark.
Who made the Law?
Who made the Law? At noon upon the hillside
His ears shall hear a moan, his cheeks shall feel a breath,
And all along the valleys, past gardens, crofts, and homesteads,
HE who made the Law,
He who made the Law, He who made the Law shall walk along with Death.
Painting
Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson
In one of Nevinson’s most famous paintings ‘Paths of Glory’, we see the bodies of two dead British soldiers behind the Western Front. The title is a quote from ‘Elegy Written In A country Church-Yard’ by Thomas Gray. ‘The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow’r, And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave, Awaits alike th’inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Whereas the poet reflects on bodies dead and buried in a church-yard, the so-called ‘Paths of Glory’ have led these soldiers to death in a wasteland. Nevinson chose to exhibit ‘Paths of Glory in London and when the Ministry of Information heard of this, they told him ‘You can’t exhibit this...’ In reply, Nevinson put it up in the gallery and covered the whole painting in a large sign, that read in capital letters: ‘CENSORED.’
Read more about the art and artists of the Ypres Salient here https://www.theypressalient.com/post/art-artists-the-ypres-salient
The Rae Family of Bainsford, Falkirk
This was not an uncommon occurrence to have more than one son killed in action.
3/6875 Private Robert Rae, 2nd Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, 19th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division. Age 19. Killed in action 21.10.14 (Royal) Berkshire Corner Memorial Panel 9 and 10. He was one of four sons and four daughters of Adam and Christina Rae, 111 Main Street, Bainsford. Prior to joining the Army as a regular on 14 January 1914, he was employed as a moulder at Mungal Foundry. https://www.theypressalient.com/post/robert-rae
His brother Adam, serving in the same Battalion as Robert, wrote to his parents: ‘I am very sorry to break the news about Robert. He was killed on the 21 October, being shot through the heart, as I was told by the Sergeant-Major. He was reported killed by the men who lay next to him, but you will get it through the War Office. It will be a very hard blow to you, but duty is duty.’ He seems to hold out some hope to his parent: ‘It is just possible that he might have been captured by the Germans, but one of the officers also reported him killed. May God spare us all and give us a safe return.’ Adam was to be seriously wounded in 1916. On receiving the news of Robert’s death his father told a reporter from the Falkirk Herald: ‘Yes, if it is true, (he is holding onto the hope given in his son Adam’s letter) it will be a sore blow to his mother and me, but he could not die a nobler death, and we only regret we have not more sons serving their King and country.’
Another brother L/Cpl Alexander Rae, 2nd Battalion Argyll’s, was killed in action on 31 December 1915 and is buried at Cambrin Churchyard Extension, Grave E.10. A fourth brother Driver John Rae was serving with the Army Service Corps in Surrey.
Notes
1. https://warpoets.org/conflicts/great-war/lesliecoulson-1889-1916/ Accessed June 2024
2. British Newspaper Archive – The Falkirk Herald
Suggested further reading:
· A Deep Cry, edited by Anne Powell. Sutton, 1998.
· Poetry of the Great War: an anthology, edited by Dominic Hibberd and John Onions. Macmillan, 1986.
Read more about recording the dead here https://www.theypressalient.com/post/recording-the-dead-how-it-began-recovering-identifying-and-burying-the-dead
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