My Dad was born 20 years after his great uncle's death but here's what he wrote of him before depositing some of his records at the Somerset records office.........

 

To you Great Uncle epitome of the sporting scholar and English Gentleman - "The City Gent" - With the sense of "fair play" that by your lights took you to war. Of this you had no need to subscribe; as a Barrister holding a secure future and connections in that City to take you forward to who knows where? And yet and so also in your blood flowed the temperament of Italian aristocracy. Your Grandmother Harriet a "Doria of Naples" added a spice - to flow with that love of Englishness many Italians feel.

 

I know you felt honour and honour bound - with those deep Somersetshyre roots thru' paternity you did not imitate but BECAME a warrior. With pistol and whistle and a sense of forward direction. The spirit moved and you did no wrong. As subaltern you lasted a long while on the course. Thru' the mess, the muck and mire, the shreiking wail, and incessant chatter of automated weaponry. "Serut" of rats at the dead and with dead of night. Your bones lay safe "In Foreign Field". Onward, for your spirit is free - in memoriam on these paper leaves. They now rest in SOMERSET with its records. Another place to watch Eternity with. To you a Great Uncle.

Clive Hudson