by Ed Caesar
There is also the question of where, specifically, Wilson fought on April 25. This is harder to pinpoint, except by deduction. The reports describe how not a single officer from A, B, or C company made it back to the battalion alive. Wilson, then, must have been in D company on April 25. The overwhelmingly likely scenario is that on the night before the battle, he was positioned with D company, alongside another officer, just behind the Grand Bois. This position would make sense. He would have been spared the brunt of the initial onslaught, which accounted for the lives of so many of his friends. Wilson was then moved up after the attack started to plug a hole through which the enemy threatened to stream. There, according to his MC citation, “He held a post in advance of the line under very heavy shell and machine-gun fire on both flanks after the machine guns covering his flanks had been withdrawn.”
After nearly four years of war: For context and an overview, see John Keegan, The First World War.
nicknamed the Old Contemptibles: The term Old Contemptibles was actually devised by the British war office and foisted on the kaiser, as Paul Fussell explains in The Great War and Modern Memory, 125.
sickly patriotic songs: In Margin Released, J. B. Priestley describes songs such as “Your King & Country Want You” as drivel, in sharp contrast to the truly moving songs of the front, which were full of phlegm, such as “I’ve Seen Him Hanging on the Wire.” This song’s lyrics were varied through the war, and from regiment to regiment. Here is one version:
If you want to find the Sergeant,
I know where he is, I know where he is, I know where he is.
If you want to find the Sergeant, I know where he is.
He’s lying on the canteen floor.
I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him, lying on the canteen floor.
I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him, lying on the canteen floor.
If you want to find the Quarter-bloke,
I know where he is, I know where he is, I know where he is.
If you want to find the Quarter-bloke, I know where he is.
He’s miles and miles behind the line.
I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him, miles and miles and miles behind the line.
I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him, miles and miles and miles behind the line.
If you want the Sergeant-major,
I know where he is, I know where he is, I know where he is.
If you want the Sergeant-major, I know where he is.
He’s tossing off the privates’ rum.
I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him, tossing off the privates’ rum.
I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him, tossing off the privates’ rum.
If you want to find the C.O.,
I know where he is, I know where he is, I know where he is.
If you want the C.O., I know where he is.
He is down in a deep dug-out.
I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him, down in a deep dug-out.
I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him, down in a deep dug-out.
If you want the privates,
I know where they are, I know where they are, I know where they are.
If you want to find the privates, I know where they are.
They’re hanging on the old barbed wire.
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.
Philip Larkin’s poem “MCMXIV”: The full poem “MCMXIV” (1964) can be found in Philip Larkin’s Collected Poems, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Collected_Poems/LBkmBgAAQBAJ?hl=en.
Dorothy Una Ratcliffe: Dorothy Una Ratcliffe was a remarkable woman. She was widely traveled, and she published many volumes of poetry. She also started and published the literary magazine Microcosm. At the end of the war, she wrote a poem for the wives and daughters of the Leeds Pals. She was also physically striking. When she became the youngest ever Lady Mayoress of Leeds, in 1913, the newspapers reported on “a most picturesque figure… tall and slim, in champagne coloured satin… with a huge stole and muff of snow leopard.”
a cow in a neighboring paddock: The cow incident was reported in the Yorkshire Evening Post.
peculiar and theatrical language: Fussell’s Great War and Modern Memory contains a riveting analysis of how theatrical language infused the speech of soldiers in the trenches.
The German artillery hammered: Sheehan, Harrogate Terriers, 235.
“belt after belt”: Tempest, History of the Sixth Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, Vol. 1, 1/6th Battalion, 225.
men of the First Fifth attempted: Tempest and Sheehan both report the heroism of West Yorkshire regiment soldiers, fighting until late in the day, isolated and short of ammunition.
considered “temporary gentlemen”: Martin Petter wrote a fascinating paper on the social problems faced by “temporary gentlemen”: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/temporary-gentlemen-in-the-aftermath-of-the-great-war-rank-status-and-the-exofficer-problem/806F5695AAEE78204236F34321964510.
“dry moorland grass… match”: This indelible phrase is contained in Priestley, Margin Released.
a quarter of a million casualties: This estimate of the casualties at Passchendaele is made by Richard Holmes in The Western Front.
For a period of a few weeks: Tempest, in Sheehan, Harrogate Terriers, 205.
It was pointless digging: Ibid., 225–26.
They didn’t eat a proper: Ibid., 227.
[He] roughed out the area: R. H. Mottram’s recollection is recorded in Fussell, Great War and Modern Memory, 78.
For his act of “conspicuous gallantry”: The full citation for Wilson’s Military Cross is contained in the London Gazette of September 16, 1918: “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He held a post in advance of the line under very heavy shell and machine-gun fire on both flanks after the machine guns covering his flanks had been withdrawn. It was largely owing to his pluck and determination in holding this post that the enemy attack was held up.”
Some of the survivors: The First Fifth’s War Diary contains these details.
CHAPTER 3: EXILES IN A STRANGE COUNTRY
The doctors did not know: Wilson’s medical notes are housed in the National Archives at Kew, in West London.
He had been shot in his left foot: Victor Wilson’s medical and army pension notes are also housed in the National Archives.
“for I detest his type”: This quotation included in a BBC article on shell shock: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/shot_at_dawn_01.shtml.
In February 1915: Ben Shephard’s War of Nerves is an outstanding history of medical psychiatry, and much of this information is included in that volume.
it was widely believed: Ibid., 1–2.
“the further the invalid soldier”: Ibid., 83.
“The genuine Armistice”: Priestley, Margin Released, 129.
“In 1910 every human”: George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius (New York: Penguin Classics, 2018).
“The social hierarchy was invisible”: Priestley, Margin Released, 7.
The war soured the feeling: Two books on wartime Bradford were helpful in this chapter: Bradford: Remembering, 1914–1918, by Dr. Kathryn Hughes, and Bradford in the Great War, ed. Mike Woods and Tricia Platts.
tariff barriers in North America: The tariffs were introduced by a protectionist American congressman, William McKinley.
key French textile towns: “Rise and Fall of Wool City,” Yorkshire Post.
Deep within me: “The Falcon and the Dove,” in The Contrary Experience, by Herbert Read, 217.
wounded to some degree: Wade Davis, Into the Silence, 91.
still living on Cecil Avenue: Roberts believes that Wilson traveled to New York in this period. Other biographers have repeated the claim. One researcher believed he found Wilson on the SS Imperator, which docked in New York in 1920. But, upon closer inspection, the Maurice Wilson on board that ship
was not from Bradford—his mother is listed as an E. J. Wilson of Sloane Square, London—and he was younger than the subject of this book. I can find no evidence in any letters, or diaries, that Wilson ever went to New York at this time.
bought second-class tickets: A government scheme to encourage resettlement of ex-servicemen to British overseas dominions was in force by 1923. It’s highly likely that Wilson’s passage was subsidized by the scheme.
CHAPTER 4: GOOD OLD DAYS OF EARLY FREEDOM
salesman of kitchen weighing scales: The firm Wilson worked for was called Avery Scales.
gave up the house: This information comes from a letter from Beatrice’s daughter, Jean, to Peter Meier-Hüsing, which I reviewed by kind permission of Meier-Hüsing.
local newspaper reported: The report in the New Zealand Truth of November 1, 1924, reads: “Another sad story of desertion of a young and pretty English bride was told during the undefended divorce sittings at the Supreme Court, Wellington, before Mr. Justice MacGregor, when Beatrice Wilson told of her experiences of married bliss. The young lady stated that she became the wife of Maurice Wilson on May 20, 1922, in the Old Country, and there were no little strangers by the marriage. Hubby came out to God’s Own Country and left Beatrice at home for the time being, later cabling for her to come to these isles. Wifey wanted to come, so she did so, but her surprise was great when she received a somewhat icy reception from Maurice, who met her at the boat on its arrival at Wellington. He hadn’t even got a home ready to receive his better half, but he took her to a house on the Terrace, where they lived together for a whole three weeks. The newlyweds then parted, and the parting was for keeps, although Beatrice really wanted to live with the chosen one. However, Wilson didn’t cotton on to the idea, and when she wrote to him, making suggestions that he ought to get her a home, her request was ignored.”
rarely spoke of Wilson again: Beatrice’s daughter, Jean, wrote to Meier-Hüsing about the continued pain that Wilson’s behavior had caused her mother. In fact, Jean said, her mother had only mentioned that she had been married before, shortly before her death, in 1964. Beatrice’s sister also never mentioned the marriage.
once told a reporter: Sydney Sun, November 1927, among others.
Australasian Mary Garden: Various newspapers note Mary Garden’s commercial and social interests at the time. Gabor Toth, a historian in Wellington, unearthed several wonderful details about Mary Garden during the period she was married to Wilson, including her property empire and business success.
died at the age of twenty-four: I had wondered for a long time about Stanley’s fate. I knew that he had returned from New Zealand in 1924, but knew little of what had happened to him after that. He simply disappears from the family record, except in the occasional wistful remembrance by Maurice. Roberts wrote that by the time Wilson returned to England in the 1930s, his brothers were all thriving in the textiles trade, but I knew that couldn’t have been the case. I learned of Stanley’s death only by accessing the archives of the Leeds Mercury newspaper, where there was a brief report. His death certificate and will confirmed Stanley’s early death.
left the marriage: According to a newspaper, Griffin asked Lucy to come back to him, and she refused. Griffin then took his wife to court, where a judge ordered her to return to her marital home, after her husband promised to put their disagreements “in the past.” Lucy would not do so. She was eventually granted her divorce and married Herbert Pitman later the same year.
most likely that the pair knew each other: Another piece of evidence to bolster the thesis that Lucy and Maurice knew each other before the voyage: Mary Garden Creations established a new store in Auckland in 1931. The Wilsons would often have visited Aukland in 1930, before the store opened.
“use his brains”: Roberts, I’ll Climb Mount Everest Alone, 20.
club on Gerrard Street: Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants, by Brian McDonald, is an excellent account of criminality and the popularity of nightclubs in this period.
CHAPTER 5: BULLET-PROOF SOLDIER
his flat in Maida Vale: I rely on Roberts’s account for details of Wilson’s London life when he spent time at the Evanses’ flat in Maida Vale.
troops looked for signs everywhere: Much of this information is contained in A Supernatural War, by Owen Davies.
“Is Conan Doyle mad?”: The article “Is Conan Doyle Mad?” is archived at https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Is_Conan_Doyle_Mad%3F.
The Oxford Group: The Oxford Group had a link to Akron, Ohio, where the Firestone Tire Company, which Len Evans worked for, was headquartered; the connection may be coincidental.
“The moth attracted to the dazzling flame”: The Voice of the Silence, translated and annotated by Helena Blavatsky (Kshetra Books, reprint of 1889 edition).
One story often told: The yogis-on-the-ship story is told in Roberts and has continued to be reprised by others.
CHAPTER 6: THE NAKED SOUL
the Great Trigonometrical Survey: Wade Davis’s wonderful Into the Silence is a finely detailed account of the history of Everest exploration, up until the fateful expedition of 1924, and it includes an excellent section on the Great Trigonometrical Survey.
exactly 29,000 feet: The calculations are slightly off. The mountain is considered to be 29,035 feet high, according to satellite imagery, but has been growing at the rate of one centimeter a year. Sikdar was probably only twenty-eight feet off. Davis, Into the Silence, 45.
“My only motive”: The full text of Petrarch’s letter is online at https://history.hanover.edu/texts/petrarch/pet17.html.
believed in maps: Davis, Into the Silence, 51.
He was a man of action: Ibid., 73.
known as the third pole: The top of Everest was known as the third pole, but the term was also sometimes used to describe the whole Himalayan arc, which is confusing.
Charles Howard-Bury: Howard-Bury also escaped his prisoner-of-war camp, before being recaptured by the Germans.
negotiating an arms and border treaty: Davis, Into the Silence, 115.
Howard Somervell: After the third Everest attempt, Howard Somervell worked in India as a surgeon, treating leprosy patients. He had been shocked, on his travels in India, to see the poor medical facilities available to its people. He worked in Kundara until 1949.
Noel Odell: Noel Odell was a strong climber, who was at Camp VI to support Mallory and Irvine on their summit bid. He noted in his diary: “At 12.50… there was a sudden clearing of the atmosphere, and the entire summit ridge and final peak of Everest were unveiled. My eyes became fixed on one tiny black spot silhouetted on a small snow-crest beneath a rock-step in the ridge; the black spot moved. Another black spot became apparent and moved up the snow to join the other on the crest. The first then approached the great rock-step and shortly emerged at the top; the second did likewise. Then the whole fascinating vision vanished, enveloped in cloud once more.” This sighting has caused more arguments among mountaineering experts than perhaps any other. The question is, Did Odell really see the climbers, or was it a trick of the eye? And if Odell did see them, were they at the First or the Second Step? If they were at the First Step when Odell saw them, there seems scant chance they reached the summit. If he saw them at the Second Step, there is scant chance they did not. To cut short many hundreds of thousands of words that have been expended on this topic, the matter will always be a mystery. The weight of evidence suggests that Mallory and Irvine did not reach the summit. (One school of thought is that the pair separated, with Mallory reaching the summit.) Both men died without leaving definitive clues that would solve the mystery.
“In that final magnificent venture”: Geoffrey Young’s article was published in Nation and Athenaeum, July 5, 1924, and is reprinted in Davis, Into the Silence, 560–61.
CHAPTER 7: MOST AMAZING AIR ADVENTURE EVER ATTEMPTED
“Mount Everest is a much more formidable mountain”: Times, July 18, 1922.
“all men are divine”: Younghusba
nd’s life is fascinating. Patrick French wrote a biography of one of Britain’s most peculiar characters. The book is infused with accounts of the author’s own travels to the regions Younghusband visited. Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer, by Patrick French.
In 1922, the expedition: Davis, Into the Silence, 396.
“alpinist style”: Reinhold Messner, who was so haunted and driven by the story of Wilson, became the chief proponent of the alpinist style.
going to climb Everest alone: This account taken from Roberts, I’ll Climb Mount Everest Alone, 27.
The arrival of Kingsford Smith’s airplane: Jean Batten, who would become New Zealand’s most famous flier and a friend of Wilson’s, was already in thrall to Kingsford Smith. In 1928, after his transpacific flight, she had begged him for a ride in his Fokker monoplane, the Southern Cross. She also vowed to him that she would one day be a flier herself. In reply, Kingsford Smith reportedly gave her two pieces of advice: never attempt to break men’s flying records, and never fly at night. She ignored both.
de Havilland had an idea: The de Havilland DH.60 Moth, by Stuart McKay, 9.
selling a Moth every day: Ibid., 70
airplane of choice for record breakers: Ibid., 27. Stack, known widely as Stacko, would die in Karachi twenty-two years later after having been hit by a lorry. In his role as “air superintendent” of Iraq Airwork Limited, he was also probably in Iraq when Wilson was flying through.
Amy Johnson: According to Jean Batten, the only thing that Amy Johnson feared was middle age. She was spared this fate: in 1941, she died at the age of thirty-seven, after ejecting from a plane, landing in the Thames Estuary in freezing conditions, and then—according to one witness—being sucked into the propellers of the nearby warship, HMS Haslemere.