Sir Auguste Charles Valadier (1871 – 1931) – A Franco-American dentist who pioneered new techniques and equipment for treating maxillofacial injuries of soldiers during the First World War

Auguste Charles Valadier was born in Paris, France on 12th January 1871.  His parents were Marie-Antoinette Valadier, née Parade, and Charles Jean-Baptiste Valadier, a pharmacist. In 1878 their parents took Auguste and his two younger brothers to live in the United States.  There Auguste attended Dr Sachs' Collegiate Institute before studying dental surgery at Columbia University (1882-1892), taking his B.A.. He received his M.A. in 1895.uguste entered the Philadelphia Dental College as a student c. 1898, and qualified as Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) in 1901. He then sat the State examinations, which allowed him to practice in Pennsylvania and New York, practicing in the latter for five years.  In July 1899 in Philadelphia he married Marion Stowe but marriage was later dissolved.

By 1910 Marie-Antoinette was widowed and wealthy and living in Paris and when her other son died she persuaded Auguste to join her there. As he had no French dental qualifications, Auguste Valadier studied at l'Ecole Odontotechnique de Paris from November 1910 to June 1911 and received the certificate of Chirugien Dentiste (Tr. Dental Surgeon) from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris in July 1912.   After that he was permitted to practice in France. In July 1913 he married Alice Wright, the granddaughter of Robert Clinton Wright, a former United States Minister in Brazil.

In October 1914 Auguste joined the British Red Cross Society (BRCS) in Paris who sent him to Abbeville. “The History of the Great War” (1922) records: "Dental surgeons commenced to arrive in France in early November and were allocated to clearing hospitals and to the bases. An eminent dentist, M. Valadier, a citizen of the United States, who had been sent from Paris to Abbeville by the BRCS, was also accepted for duty with the British troops on 29 October."   

Auguste appears to have been the first dental surgeon to provide dental treatment for the British troops in France. The dental surgeons sent over by the War Office were given temporary commissions while attached to the Royal Army Medical Corps, and Auguste Valadier was gazetted as an honorary Lieutenant, and in 1916 was promoted to the rank of Major.

By early 1915 Auguste had set up a 50-bed oral surgery unit attached to the 83rd (Dublin) General Hospital at Wimereux for the treatment of facial injuries.  Much of this reconstructive work was paid for out of his own pocket, while the staff in his dental laboratory in Paris fashioned the appliances necessary for the treatment of severe injuries to the jaw. As he was not a surgeon himself it was considered necessary that Auguste would require the assistance of a trained surgeon in the operating theatre and Harold Gillies joined his team. It is uncertain how long Gillies worked with Auguste, but it was certainly long enough to inspire in Gillies the interest to learn more about this radical new medical treatment.

When the war ended Auguste applied for and received the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal with three Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) emblems.   In February 1920, in recognition of his service during the War, Auguste     Valadier was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the British government.  However because he was a French national the award was purely honorary. He had been appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in June 1916  and an Associate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in January 1917. In 1919 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the government of France. 

Auguste Valadier applied for British citizenship and in recognition of his service to the British Army it was granted on 16th March 1920. He was finally knighted by George V on 8th March 1921.

During the 1920s Auguste went back to his dental practice in Paris where he became President of the American Dental Club of Paris. 

Auguste died on 31st August 1931.

 Major Sir Auguste Charles Valadier at No.13 Stationary Hospital. 6th October 1916

Arthur Michell Ransome CBE (1884 – 1967) – British author and a foreign correspondent coveromg WW1 on the Eastern Front for “The Daily News”.

Arthur Ransome wearing his
Press Corps Uniform in WW1 

Arthur was born on 18th January 1884 in Leeds, UK.  He was the son of Cyril Ransome (1851–1897) who was a Professor of History at Yorkshire College (now the University of Leeds). and his wife Edith Ransome (née Baker Boulton) (1862–1944).   

Arthur was the eldest of four children - he had two sisters, Cecily and Joyce, and a brother Geoffrey who was killed in the First World War in 1918.   Joyce married into the Lupton family, well-connected industrialists and politicians; she named one of her sons Arthur Ralph Ransome Lupton (1924–2009), Her grandson is storyteller Hugh Lupton.

The Ransome family regularly holidayed at Nibthwaite in the Lake District, and Arthur was carried up to the top of Coniston Old Man as an infant. 

Educated first in Windermere and then at Rugby School (where he lived in the same study room that had been used by Lewis Carroll) where he did not entirely enjoy the experience, because of his poor eyesight, lack of athletic skill, and limited academic achievement, Arthur went on to study chemistry at Yorkshire College, where his late father had worked. His father's premature death in 1897 had a lasting effect on him. 

After a year at Yorkshire College, Arthur abandoned his studies and went to London to become a writer. He took low-paying jobs as an office assistant in a publishing company and as editor of a failing magazine – “Temple Bar Magazine”, while establishing himself as a member of the literary scene.

His mother did not want him to abandon his studies for writing, but was later supportive of his books. She urged him to publish “The Picts and the Martyrs” in 1943, although his second wife Evgenia hated it and was often discouraging about his books while he was writing them.

Arthur married Ivy Constance Walker in 1909 and they had one daughter  - Tabitha. It was not a happy marriage as Arthur found his wife's demands to spend less time on writing and more with her and their daughter a great strain; his biographer Hugh Brogan writes that "it was impossible to be a good husband to Ivy". The couple weredivorced in 1924.

In 1913 Ransome left his first wife and daughter and went to Russia to study its folklore..

After the start of the First World War in 1914, Arthur became a foreign correspondent and covered the war on the Eastern Front for “The Daily News”. He also covered the Russian Revolutions of 1917 and came to sympathise with the Bolshevik cause, becoming personally close to a number of its leaders, including Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Karl Radek. He met the woman who would later become his second wife - Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina - who worked as Trotsky's personal secretary.

He also wrote about the literary life of London and about Russia before, during and after the Revolutions of 1917. His connection with the leaders of the Revolution led to him providing information to the Secret Intelligence Service, while he was also suspected by MI5 of being a Soviet spy.

In 1915, Arthur published “The Elixir of Life” (published by Methuen, London), which was to be his only full-length novel apart from the “Swallows and Amazons” series. He published “Old Peter's Russian Tales” - a collection of 21 folktales from Russia - the following year

After a long and successful life, Arthur died on 3rd  June 1967.

Margaret Agnes Rope (1882 – 1953) – British stained glass artist

 

I discovered Margaret Rope while watching an episode of Michael Portillo’s documentary “Great British Railway Journeys” when he visited Shrewsbury.

Margaret was born on 20th June 1882 the second child of Henry John Rope, M.D (1847-1899) and Agnes Maud (née Burd: 1857- 1948). She was christened Margaret Agnes at St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury on 7th July. Margaret’s elder brother was Henry Edward George Rope who became a Roman Catholic Priest, writer, poet and editor. 

The Rope family were Anglican but, soon after her husband's early death in 1899, their mother converted to Roman Catholicism (along with 5 of her 6 children).  She brought her children up in some degree of poverty, exacerbated by her father's will, which denied money to any descendant "in religion".   Of the children, two became nuns (Margaret and Monica) and one a priest (Fr. Harry Rope). Two other siblings were Irene Vaughan, a botanist, and Squadron Leader Michael Rope, an aeronautical engineer, who died in the R101 airship disaster on 5th October 193. Only one, Denys, a doctor of medicine, continued as an Anglican, following his father.

Henry Edward George Rope (Father Harry Rope) (23 October 1880 – 1 March 1978) was a writer, poet, editor and priest widely known in the Roman Catholic Church in his long lifetime. He was the eldest brother of Margaret Agnes Rope, stained-glass artist, nephew of Ellen Mary Rope, sculptor, and George Thomas Rope, painter and naturalist as well as cousin of M. E. Aldrich Rope, another stained-glass artist. Due to his writings and his work as archivist at the Venerable English College, Rome, he was well known in his lifetime, particularly within Church circles but as a radical traditionalist he has been forgotten in modern times

Margaret was educated at home until in 1900 she went to the Birmingham Municipal School of Art.  Her studies included enamelling and lettering. From 1901, she studied stained glass under Henry Payne.  Margaret had an illustrious career at the school including a number of scholarships and won many awards in the National Competition for Schools of Art. In 1909, she left the school and worked from home (The Priory, Shrewsbury) especially on the large west window of Shrewsbury Cathedral, the first of seven she did there

Although there is no indication that Margaret served in any capacity during the First World War, several of her siblings were directly involved in the war effort - as an ambulance driver, a naval air service member and a nurse ministering to wounded soldiers.  Margaret was running a successful stained-glass studio in London at the time. 

Margaret and her sister were apparently arrested in Suffolk on suspicion of being German spies during the war, because they were riding motorbikes, which was unusual for women at the time. 

(Two women who also rode motor cycles were Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm – there are two excellent books about them - 

https://inspirationalwomenofww1.blogspot.com/2013/07/elsie-and-mairi-go-to-war.html

https://inspirationalwomenofww1.blogspot.com/search?q=Mairi+Chisholm

However, Margaret Rope did create a significant amount of war memorial work after the conflict, suggesting she felt deeply the loss of the young men who died.

Margaret died on 6th December 1953.

Edward Frederic Benson OBE (1867 – 1940) - British writer, poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and short story writer, best known for his novels about Mapp and Lucia

 

Edward Frederic Benson was born at Wellington College in Berkshire on 24th July 1867, the fifth child of the headmaster, Edward White Benson (later chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, Bishop of Truro and Archbishop of Canterbury), and his wife born Mary Sidgwick ("Minnie").

E. F. Benson was the younger brother of Arthur Christopher Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson (Maggie), an author, artist and amateur Egyptologist. Two other siblings died young. 

Edward was educated at Temple Grove School, then at Marlborough College, where he wrote some of his earliest. He continued his education at King's College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Pitt Club and later in life he became an honorary fellow of Magdalene College.

He enlisted as a Private with the British Army in the Army Service Corps, with the service number M/317967. The Imperial War Museums' "Lives of the First World War" project confirms his military service record.

Edward F. Benson died on 29th February 1940 of throat cancer at University College Hospital, London. He was buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.

Arthur Christopher Benson, FRSL (1862 - 1925) – British writer, poet and academic

 

Arthur was born on 24th April 1862 at Wellington College, Berkshire, one of six children born to Edward White Benson, the first headmaster of the College, who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 to 1896, and his wife, Mary (née Sidgwick and known as"Minnie"), who was a sister of the philosopher Henry Sidgwick.  Arthur’s younger brother Edward Frederick Benson (1867 – 1940) also became a writer - E.F. Benson was best remembered for his Mapp and Lucia novels. Their sister Margaret Benson (1865 - 1936) became an artist, author and amateur Egyptologist.

In 1874, Arthur won a scholarship to Eton School from Temple Grove School, a preparatory school in East Sheen. In 1881, he went up to King's College, Cambridge, where he was a scholar (King's College had closed scholarships for which only Etonians were eligible) and achieved first-class honours in the Classical tripos in 1884.

Arthur became an essayist, poet and academic and served as the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He wrote the lyrics of Edward Elgar's Coronation Ode, including the words of the patriotic song "Land of Hope and Glory" (1902). His literary criticism, poems, and volumes of essays were highly regarded.

During the First World War, Arthur was a fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was appointed Master of the college in December 1915 and served in that role until his death in 1925. He devoted his energies to academic and literary work, and was also a governor of Gresham's School.

Arthur C. Benson contributed to the war effort through his work as an educator and writer and he was involved in founding the Benson Medal in 1916 for meritorious works in literature. He edited the book “Cambridge Essays on Education”, which was published in 1919 towards the end of the war.

Arthur died of cardiac arrest at Magdalene on 17th June 1925 and was buried in St Giles's Cemetery, Cambridge.

"Land of Hope and Glory" was important during WW1, serving as a powerful symbol of British nationalism and the war effort, with lyrics that celebrated the nation's empire and encouraged its military might. Composed by Edward Elgar with lyrics by A.C. Benson, the song's patriotic themes were particularly resonant during the conflict and were frequently performed at events like the Proms, further solidifying its role in maintaining morale. 

Symbol of nationalism: The song's lyrics, which refer to Britain's "Empire" and a call to God to make the nation "mightier yet," directly fueled the nationalist sentiment that was a major cause of the war.

Wartime morale booster: Because of its patriotic themes, the song was popular during the war and helped maintain the fighting spirit on the home front. It was part of the official war effort, though some of Elgar's other wartime compositions were less successful.

Chorus to “Land of Hope and Glory” lyrics:

            Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,

            How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?

            Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set;

            God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet,

            God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet!

Source: Wikipedia.   You can see one of A.C. Benson's books here

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.201545  “\Meanwhile a Packet of War Letters” by A.C. Benson, 1916

Alvin York (1887 – 1964) – American Hero of the First World War

 With thanks to John Daniel for finding this information for us

Alvin Cullum York was born on 13th December 1887 in Pall Mall, Tennessee, USA. (Pall Mall is a small community in the Wolf River valley of Fentress County, Tennessee, United States. It is named after Pall Mall, London, UK).

Before the First World War, Alvin worked as a blacksmith.  He was denied status as a conscientious objector and was drafted into the U.S. Army during The First World War. While serving in the 82nd Infantry Division during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (October 1918), he was among a patrol of 17 men ordered to take out a German machine-gun emplacement that was checking his regiment’s advance. Behind enemy lines the patrol lost half its men but managed to take a handful of prisoners before being pinned down by extremely heavy rifle and machine-gun fire. Corporal York assumed command and, while the rest of the survivors took up defensive positions and stood guard over the prisoners, Corporal York attacked alone and, firing rapidly and with deadly accuracy at the enemy gunners, killed more than two dozen of them, which prompted the others to surrender. En route back to the American lines, he captured still more Germans, to a total of 132. 

Alvin York was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and later received the Congressional Medal of Honour and similar honours from France and other countries. After the war he returned to Tennessee, where he lived on a farm given to him by that State. He helped to establish an industrial institute and a Bible school for the education of rural youth. His autobiography, “Sergeant York, His Own Life Story and War Diary” (Edited by Tom Skeyhill*), was published in 1928.

Alvin York died on 2nd September 1964 in Nashville, Tennessee.

The photograph of Alvin York in uniform was taken in 1919. He is shown wearing the Medal of Honour and French Croix de Guerre with Palm medals he was awarded.

Sources: Wikipedia, information supplied by John Daniel and 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alvin-Cullum-York

* See the post about Tom Skeyhill here: 

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1469575372198324716/4500128455326203988

Leicester University, UK – a First World War memorial

It was first proposed to set up a University in Leiceter in1880. Dr Astley Clarke (1870-1945), who was born and educated in Leicester, the son of a prominent local surgeon, who became Honorary Consulting Physician and Consulting Radiologist at Leicester Royal Infirmary, became President of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society.that the idea came up again.  He worked hard throughout his year in office as President of the Soceity to generate interest and promises of support. Everything was looking very promising - until war broke out. 

As he had been a part-time soldier since 1910, Astley Clarke served in WW1 as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was swiftly appointed Administrator of the 5th Northern General Hospital, an RAMC unit which took up residence in the former Leicestershire and Rutland Lunatic Asylum next to Victoria Park. Members of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society dispersed to military, naval, governmental or medical duties, or devoted their fund-raising work to the war effort.

Three years later, despite there still being no end in sight to the 'war to end all wars', the idea of a Leicester University College was raised once again. On 14 November 1917 - a few days after the Battle of Passchendaele, a few days before the Battle of Cambrai - the “Leicester Daily Post” told its readers that the city should have “more than a mere artistic war memorial.” A better memorial to lives lost and ruined”, argued the paper, “would be the establishment of a University College so that the next generation might achieve better things than their forefathers.” Furthermore, a ready made site presented itself.

During the course of the war, the 5th Northern General expanded from this base hospital building to become a local network of more than 60 locations including North Evington War Hospital, Knighton House Hospital, Gilcross Hospital and the Leicester Royal Infirmary. Admiral Beatty, a naval hero for his role in the Battle of Jutland, donated his Leicestershire home Brooksby Hall as part of the 5th Northern General, staffed by nurses from the Voluntary Aid Detachment.

In total, there were beds in Leicestershire for 111 officers and 2,487 other ranks, through which passed more than 95,000 casualties. Of these men, 514 deaths were recorded, 286 of whom are buried across from the University in Welford Road Cemetery. The Commanding Officer of the hospital in 1917 was Lt. Col. Louis N Harrison.

After the Armistice, the fund-raising campaign took off in earnest, spurred on by a determination to create a 'living memorial' to those who had given their lives. 

Leicester was granted City status in 1919 by King George V, in recognition of its industries' contribution to the British war effort.

By January 1920, just 14 months after Astley Clarke's first bundle of five pound notes, the total stood at £100,000, including numerous donations by grieving parents and wives in memory of husbands and sons who would never return to Leicester. The 5th Northern General Hospital had finally vacated the old lunatic asylum buildings which were promptly bought by local businessman Thomas Fielding Johnson, and just as promptly donated to the council as a site for the University College.

The Arch of Remembrance is a First World War Grade-I listed Arch of Remembrance situated in Victoria Park, Leicester, It was nveiled in 1925 and is close to the University campus. The memorial was commissioned and designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. 

NOTES; Astley Vavasour Clarke (1870-1945) was born in Leicester and educated at Wyggeston School, Oakham School, in Heidelberg and Bonn.

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens OM KCIE PRA FRIBA (1869 – 1944) was a British architect. Before the end of the First World War, he was appointed one of three principal architects for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now Commonwealth War Graves Commission) and was involved with the creation of many monuments to commemorate the dead.

Sources: University Challenge programme and 

https://le.ac.uk/about/history/campus-history/great-war

https://le.ac.uk/about/history/campus-history/military-hospital

https://le.ac.uk/news/2021/september/living-memorial