The Death of the 'Dukes'
Several years ago I led a group from the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment Association to the battlefields of Mons and Le Cateau and some years later a similar one to Ypres. Rowland Owen (background photograph) whose story through his many letters home is the thread of this book, fought in all these battles and it was at Ypres, on Hill 60, that he lost his young life. Looking back on those two tours I wish I had had the benefit of the rich archive that this book represents. This book is a labour of love… and it is a remarkably comprehensive, unique and well illustrated record of the original 2nd Battalion of the Regiment. It represents an enormous amount of research encompassing every feature of the Battalion’s life until all those who had marched out of Portobello Barracks one hundred years ago, on 13th August, 1914, were no more.
For anyone wanting to get under the skin of a Regular Battalion in 1914, one of the Old Contemptible battalions, this is the book for you but the thoroughness of the research also makes it a veritable archive and will be available for those who wish to delve into the lives of any of those 1000 men who went to war in the sepia tinted world of faith, loyalty and optimism that was never to be seen again.
Taken from the Foreword by Major General Sir Evelyn Webb-Carter KCVO, OBE, DL 31st and last Colonel of The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding)
The Death Of The 'Dukes' © 2017 Graham Sargeant
