Book Reviews Family at War by Jolyon Jackson
Mons, Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres – each place name resonates with the noise of battle along the Western Front in the Great War. Royal Horse Artillery officer, Francis Foljambe, whose personal correspondence forms the main thread of this unique story, was with the BEF in Belgium during the early days of the war. His Artillery Battery had the unique distinction of firing the first 18-pounder rounds of the Great War near Mons on 23rd August. Together with his brother, Ted, an officer in the Rifle Brigade, and the extended Foljambe family, his life became swept along with the tides of the war.
The Foljambes played exactly the sort of rôle that one might expect from an English upper middle-class family of the Edwardian age. The head of the family was the Rt Hon Francis Foljambe (the Squire). His son, George, had commanded a Territorial Battalion of The Sherwood Foresters and younger brother Hubert, a Regular officer in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, was killed on the Aisne in 1914. George’s eldest son, Ted, was reported wounded and missing at the Battle of Cateau. The other son, Francis, had been commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1912 and lost his popular Battery Commander, shot through the throat at Mons in 1914.
The author, Brigadier Jolyon Jackson, is a cousin of Francis Foljambe whose letters form the centrepiece of these diaries. Other family letters which have languished in an attic since the Great War, unseen and unknown, are also included; these letters depict life at home and are of equal importance. There are letters from the women of the family showing many of their hopes and fears and their bravery in the face of terrible events to come. This unique combination of archive photographs and personal correspondence makes Family at War a rare contemporary insight into how the Great War changed the lives of a whole generation.
Jolyon Jackson joined the Army at seventeen. His early service was spent in Germany during the Cold War, in Northern Ireland, and on exercise worldwide. He also spent two years in Dhofar with a Baluch Battalion of the Sultan of Oman’s Army. He commanded 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets and later attended the Royal College of Defence Studies. He commanded 43 (Wessex) Brigade and he is currently Director Recruiting and Training Operations for the Army.
In essence, the book is about part of his family in WW1 and it follows them through the war. Out of five regular and one Territorial officers, one was killed, one was a POW (and ended up marrying his Polish nurse), one spent three and a half years at the front, one had a breakdown and one commanded what was left of two Regiments at the first battle of Ypres. The TA officer had just retired, was recalled to the third line and mobilised and then supported his Battalions for the next two years. One of Jolyon Jackson’s cousins was a gunner - he is the key thread through the book - and he fired the first 18 pounder round of WW1 across the Mons Canal. Of the others, one was Rifle Brigade, three were King’s Royal Rifles Corps - all antecedents of The Rifles. The TA officer was in 8th Battalion The Sherwood Foresters and so is of interest to Mercian readers. The book is based on diaries and letters with many pictures and it is a treasure trove of unseen material. The forward is by Richard Holmes.
Published by Haynes, the book can be purchased through Amazon: the cover price is £25 but the Amazon price is £21.25 plus postage - (type in Jolyon Jackson to book search).
The Chilwell Story
The Chilwell Story is about a place, not a person. It covers the period of history between 1915 and 1982 during which Chilwell played a vital rôle in each of the two World Wars. The site started as the National Shell Filling Factory and became the largest Ordnance Depôt in the world. The book relates life in a “humdrum static Army unit” and is every bit as worthwhile and interesting as more glamorous books relating to the Infantry and the Cavalry. What is so interesting about Chilwell? Discover for yourself by reading this fascinating book. Copies are now available at a cost of £12.50 each: further details are available from FSA Chilwell Stn on 94551 2021 (0115 957 2021).
The History of The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment 1970 – 2010
Readers are reminded that a few copies of this fascinating and detailed history of a fine, but short-lived, regiment are still available from RHQ Nottingham or from The Worcestershire Regiment Museum.
On the Bloody Road to Berlin. Edited by Duncan Rogers and Sarah Williams
This book is a series of personal accounts by officers and soldiers of different nations on both sides during WWII. Each story traces the writer’s steps from different parts of Europe to Berlin either the Axis Army or as the victorious Allied Forces on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. Of particular interest is the account by Lt (later Col) Peter Hall DSO of 1st Battalion The Worcestershire Regiment which was part of 43rd Wessex Brigade. Whilst many of the accounts have been translated badly into English and whilst far too many spelling and grammatical errors can be found, the sense is easy to understand and the accounts give a real insight into the horrors of war on all sides, the conditions in which friend and foe alike fought and struggled to survive and the scant equipment and clothing with which they often had to do it. Peter Hall’s account, however, is well written with flair and, on many occasions, military humour despite the deprivations of the situation. His account is taken from his unpublished memoirs “Tales of a Disorderly Officer”. The book is worth buying and reading just for Peter Hall’s account alone but it is, nevertheless, interesting to read the different national and personal views. On the Bloody Road to Berlin is published by Helion & Company Ltd in association with The Military and Aviation Book Club. ISBN 1 874622 08 6.
The Mercian Eagle October 2010 109
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