“Would to God that we men past military age could go and do this business, instead of you young fellows,” he wrote Writing to Tolkien on the battlefield shortly after June 1916, head teacher Mr Gilson spoke of how he longed to go to war instead of the young men who were sacrificing their lives. The writer and his former head teacher exchanged moving letters following the death of Rob Gilson. They were never able to rebuild a closeness shattered by the enormity of what had occurred.Īll they now shared was a sense of total loss. Tolkien and Wiseman came back from the front alive but badly shaken and deeply shocked by all that they had seen. The group called themselves the Tea Club Barrovian Society – and all vowed to become literary greats.
Tolkien, circled, was posted to France the 11th Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers
