Children
Dorothea (‘Dertha’)
(married Harold Ruggles-Brise, 1895) Born 1866
Helen Born 1867
Evelyn Born 1868
John (‘Bardie’)
(married Katharine (‘Kitty’) Ramsay, 1899) Born 1871
George (‘Geordie’) Born 1873
James (‘Hamish’) Born 1879
Maps
Britain in 1915
Europe in 1915
British Sector Positions and Local Towns and Villages, January 1915
The Battle of Neuve Chapelle, March 1915
The Gallipoli Landings, April 1915
The 2nd Battle of Ypres, April 1915
The Battle of Aubers Ridge, May 1915
The Battle of Loos, September 1915
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to the following primary sources for the factual background to this fictionalized account of the Great War during 1915. Each represents astonishing dedication to the cause of presenting accurate historical detail. Such diligent endeavours are often much more valuable than textbook histories, which usually give only a partial view and are invariably heavily laden with opinion and interpretation. Needless to say, I have used many of them, but they are too numerous to list here. Nevertheless, I am grateful for their insight.
The Community: Presteigne
Glover, Michael & Riley, Jonathon. 2007. ‘That Astonishing Infantry’: The History of the Royal Welch Fusiliers 1689–2006. Pen and Sword Books.
Howse, W. H. 1945. Presteigne Past and Present. Jakemans.
Laws, Sarah & Purcell, Clare. 1998. Impressions of Presteigne: An Oral History. Menter Powys.
Leversedge, Cherry. 1988. Pictorial Presteigne of Bygone Days. Leominster Print.
Parker, Keith. 2008. A History of Presteigne. Logaston Press.
Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum, Caernarfon Castle, North Wales.
Ward, Dudley H. 2005. Regimental Records of the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Naval and Military Press.
The Regiment: Royal Fusiliers
Fusilier Museum, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Tower of London.
O’Neill, Herbert Charles. 2002 (new edition of the 1922 edition). The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War. Naval and Military Press.
The Politician: Winston Churchill
Gilbert, Martin. 1971. Winston S. Churchill (Volume III: The Challenge of War: 1914–1916). Hillsdale College Press.
Soames, Mary. 1998. Speaking for Themselves: The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill. Doubleday.
The Estate: The Stewart-Murrays, Dukes of Atholl
Anderson, Jane. 1991. Chronicles of the Atholl and Tullibardine Families. Atholl Estates.
Hetherington, S. J. 1989. Katharine Atholl, 1874–1960, Against the Tide. Aberdeen University Press.
Katharine, Duchess of Atholl. 1958. Working Partnership. Barker.
The Pals: D Company (Burnley Company), 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, ‘Accrington Pals’
Chapman, Tom. 2006. Old King Coal. Tom Chapman.
Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, Lancashire Infantry Museum, Fulwood Barracks, Preston.
Howarth, John. 2000. Another Time, Another World. Burnley and District Historical Society.
Jackson, Andrew. 2013. Accrington Pals: The Full Story. Pen and Sword Books.
Turner, William. 1992. The Accrington Pals. Pen and Sword Books.
Whelan, Peter. 1982. The Accrington Pals. Methuen.
I am also more grateful than words can adequately express to all those at Michael Joseph/Penguin Books for their faith in me and their outstanding professionalism. I should highlight its outstanding sales team, without whom no amount of angst and endeavour from an author would produce the revenue that warms his or her hearth. I am particularly grateful to Francesca Russell, whose charm and perseverance wins over the critics and the reviewers, and Nick Lowndes, who sweats blood to make sure the book is presented as pristinely and accurately as possible. Also, a very special thank-you to Sarah Day, an editor who not only has an astonishing eye for detail and an amazing grasp of our wonderful language, but is also my invaluable guide to the subtleties of complex characters and their interactions and helps me make them work much better for the reader. And to publisher Alex Clarke, who is, quite simply, a legend. Self-effacing, kindly, charming, but very shrewd; he is the kind of guardian angel about whom every author dreams.
Finally, to my family and friends – thanks for being so supportive, generous and absolutely wonderful!
THE BEGINNING
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PENGUIN BOOKS
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published 2015
Copyright © Stewart Binns, 2015
Cover images © The Art Archive / Alamy
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-1-405-91629-5
The Darkness and the Thunder Page 48