Poem ~ Villages Devastated - Friday, 20 April 1917

Source: File: The destruction of the church in Moÿ-de-l'Aisne, February 1917. Available at: <http://02610.moy.free.fr/Moydelaisne/02610.moy/Infos/Municipalite/Moyquand/N23/Lanciers.html> 
[Accessed 18 April 2017]

With the western front in France,

Reaching its 35th week in 3rd

Year of war, devastation of lives

Of the population had no conclusion.

Between the invasion of Germany

Taking over ground of Aisne

And reunification of that area,

Came reports of great annihilation.

Making a visitation of the retaken

Region, Chairman of the Aisne

Refugee Committee D.Camp,

Learned of systematic destruction.

Eleven French towns and villages

Were wiped off the map -

The occupiers had used

Variations of means in process.

Battering rams had been built

To destroy ancient town

Walls; dynamite, petrol tar

All employed to take down houses.

Exteriors of churches still stood

But all contents taken,

Graveyards lay broken -

Opened vaults emptied to bury own.

Some 25 miles from Laon town,

Lay Ugny le Gay - little

More than a hamlet

Of 234 people, lay in persecution.

Germans made tax of exactions.

First demanded monies

February 1915; £140.00 -

The same demand again in August.

September 1915 saw how the Mayor

Of Ugny le Gay and others

Were imprisoned, until

Payment of £500.00 were handed over.

October 1915, £200 fee equivalent

In francs was demanded -

12 months later, October

1916, another extortion sum of £1500.

When finally the Germans were forced

From the area, the people

Found their possessions

Had been seized, pillaged and abused.

Young girls of the village were taken

Away - villagers disinterred as

Germans set homes on fire

Destroying machinery and fruit trees.

Any French people who returned to their

Villages, would have struggled

To see where their homes had

Once stood; to see crushed stone piles.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1917. Devastated France. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 9 April March 1917. P.6. Col.5. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214440/Daily-Telegraph-April-9-1917.html> [Accessed: 20 April 2017].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 20 April 2017). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214440/Daily-Telegraph-April-9-1917.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ War Marriage Mishap - Sunday, 12 March 1916

Impression sketch for War Marriage Mishap - by Jamie.

i

Sanderson versus Sanderson,

Had involve a Mr Graham in case

Of wronged marriage - the woman

At the centre had given her address;

Clarges Street, Mayfair in London.

The woman Vivian Hesse Graham,

Had made Acquaintance of Lieutenant

Edward Lloyd Sanderson - a young

Man of an upstanding Yorkshire family.

In June 1915 stationed at Thetford.

During home leave Edward Sanderson

Met Vivian, then quickly developing

Fondness for the young lady - leading

Them to stay at a Norwich Hotel,

In name of Mrs and Mrs Sanderson.

The couple later stayed at Caterham,

In Kent - Edward believed her name

To be Lavender Vivian Souray - within

A short time he asked her to marry

Him; but his parents quizzed her past.

ii

There followed a letter from his

Father asked Edward to end all

Relations with Sourly - yet Edward

Was too much in love to obey,

Or consider his parents wishes.

Vivian and Edward's Summer of

Love resulted in a letter to the father,

About the anonymous document

He had received - Lavender Souray

Told him of her utter innocence.

They mysteriously denied any ability

To authorise elements of their proof -

Lavender reiterated her surprise

Of their son, being so much in love

With her - advising he be given time.

iii

Time for his affections to abate -

to state their closeness could not

Harm him and how he would surely

Be broken hearted to leave her so

Soon - she asked pardon of errors.

Lavender admitted how a marriage

With their son Lloydie, could not

Happen - giving her suitor a surprise,

She admitted her marriage to a man

Hugh Graham, serving in Dardanelles.

Able Seaman Hugh Merton Graham,
Had been wounded, serving in Gallipoli,

29 August 1915 - yet it was not until

20 September his next of kin became

Informed, seeing his name in papers.

By date of early September, Vivian

Told Edward an admiralty telegram

Stated her husband as dead - with

Belief Edward asked her to Norwich

Where they were to be married.

iV

In a condition of their marriage

Vivian would keep her own name -

So she signed register as Souray.

The day was 23 September, the

Lieutenant was 27 and Vivian 21.

In learning of the wedding Edward's 

Parents were dismayed, having looked

Into the brides past, thad discovered

She had lived under various names -

Leading a wandering manner of life.

All was not as it should seem -

Finally matters came to a head,

Before Mr Justice Bargrave Deane.

Edwards’s wife admitted to him

Her name; Yvonne Vivian Souray.

Her profession had been as actress

On a London stage - the hearing

Then heard how her first husband,

Had in fact recovered of wounds, 

Back on duty by 4 October 1915.

Corroboration for the fact of Graham

Living, came from his sister and a letter

From him, dated 17 January 1916 -

George Bostock of Royal Navy Record

Office, confirmed the man was alive.

V

Then Lieutenant Sanderson petitioned

For their marriage to be annulled,

As a result of facts - the plea of Vivian

Sanderson being, she was induced

To go though their marriage ceremony.

The officer's parents having learned

Of the wedding taking place, became

Distraught - when their son heard

The proof of their enquiries, Edward

Requested the nullity on 4 December.

Miss Souray first married Mr Graham,

20 January then 23 September 1915

Married Mr Sanderson, while her first

Husband was still living - Mr Justice

Pronounced decree nisi and nullity:

Both parties met in total agreement.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Girl's Two Marriages - Singular Nullity Suit. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 12 March 1916. P.5. Col.4-5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12183691/Daily-Telegraph-March-8-1916.html [Accessed: 12 March 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 12 March 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12183691/Daily-Telegraph-March-8-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Red Cross Reactions - Friday, 27 August 1915

An Impression sketch of French Red Cross advert by Jamie - based on an original image that can be viewed at: http://www.thenostalgiashop.co.uk/The-French-Red-Cross-1915-Original-advert-%28ref-AD855%29/1250.htm

With words prompted in reaction,

To those of published Grace Ellison -

Made out by Cecely Arden Baillie-Hamilton,

Infirmiere Diplomee, of French Red Cross-

In opposition to the lady journalist's

Published inaccuracies of Red Cross.

This had occurred in article series,

And to one issued on 23 August 1915,

With a ‘sweeping indictment’, being made

Against French Red Cross nurses

To start in underhand compliments.

Ellison states how ladies of Red

Cross, being volunteer mothers

At the front, whose nursing science

Being little more than applying bandages -

Their status not allowing nursing

Of diseases, left to orderlies roles.

Cecely Arden Baillie-Hamilton,

Challenged reporter Grace Ellison,

Who knew nothing of basic methods

And the rules of Croix Rouge de France,

With the training disciplines

And tested nursing abilities.

Infirmiere Diplomee tells how

The gaining of Diplome Simple

Has to be gained from school institutes -

In Paris or elsewhere - being equal

To probationer of an English

Hospital over many long hours.

The student then goes through

Varied numbers of technical exams, 

To qualify for Diplome Superieur, while

Infirmiere Major is very complex process.

Furthermore, service is taken

In military and public hospitals.

The implication of timidity,

By single or married nurses,

Reluctant to any infectious diseases,

Is perfectly ungrounded without evidence.

No hospital from war’s start, with

Such illness has seen them present.

On the rare occasion Miss Ellison

Suggests with soldiers have been

In hands of trained orderlies - pressures

Had prevented nursing detachments

From surgical hospitals, in needs

Of the Red Cross presence.

Cecely Arden Baillie-Hamilton,

Riled in reaction, told how trained

Nurse from any class or married status,

Had no fear as at Dunkirk - where typhoid

And diphtheria patients were

Looked after over many months.

'Abject devoted and courageous'

Women are the main words given by

This Infirmiere Diplomee, who face great

Daily tasks - which highlights assumptions

From Grace Ellison, whose belief

For women's suffrage held contradictions.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. French Red Cross – Its Training and Work. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 27 August. P.11. Col 4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11812538/Daily-Telegraph-August-27-1915.html  [Accessed: 27 August 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 27 August 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11812538/Daily-Telegraph-August-27-1915.html

 http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Greece: Fading Neutrality - Wednesday, 25 August 1915

Impression sketch of King Constantine I of Greece  - by Jamie. See original at:http://www.ekim.gr/xronologio/img/2/photos/large/1915.jpg

A Greek representative arriving

In Britain, spoke regarding strongly

Held belief for Greece joining war-

Their eagerness in the allies cause.

Taking place about majority  

Of Greek districts, meetings held

Were against further neutrality - 

Turkish quarter being against war.

Yet a Jewish presence impatient

For war - traditionally Greece

Had no argument with Germany

But relationships had tainted.

This had stemmed from siding

With Turkey, who were traditional

Enemies of Greece - distrust

Of Germany had further deepened. 

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Greece – 'Clamouring for War'. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 1 August. P.2. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11812498/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1915.html [Accessed: 25 August 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 25 August 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11812498/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1915.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poíi̱ma ~ Elláda :̱ Fading Oudeteróti̱ta - Tetárti̱ 25, Av̱goústou, 1915

Entýpo̱si̱ skítso tou vasiliá Ko̱nstantínou sti̱n Elláda - apó ton Jamie . Deíte to archikó sti̱ diéf̱thynsi̱:̱http://www.ekim.gr/xronologio/img/2/photos/large/1915.jpg

Énas Élli̱nas antipróso̱pos pou fthánoun
Sti̱ Vretanía , míli̱se schetiká me éntona
Pepoíthi̱si̱ gia ti̱n Elláda pou enó̱nei polemikó
Prothymía tous stous symmáchous na prokalései.

Lamvánontas chó̱ra gia ti̱n pleiopsi̱fía
Ti̱s Elli̱nikí̱s periochés , synantí̱seis
Táchthi̱kan enantíon ti̱s oudeteróti̱tas -
Tourkikí̱ synoikía pou eínai enántia ston pólemo.

O̱stóso, mia evraïkí̱ parousía anypómonos
Gia ton pólemo - paradosiaká Elláda
Eíche kanéna epicheíri̱ma me ti̱ Germanía
Allá oi schéseis nóthef̱se.

Af̱tó eíche proí̱lthe apó plaisió̱sei
Me ti̱n Tourkía , pou í̱tan paradosiaká
Echthroí ti̱s Elláda - dyspistías
Ti̱s Germanías eíche vathýnei peraitéro.

Anon . , 1915 . Elláda - « Clamouring gia ton pólemo » . I̱ Daily Telegraph , [ se apef̱theías sýndesi̱ ] ti̱n 1i̱ Av̱goústou . P.2 . OoI.3 . Diathésimo se :̱ http:̱//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11812498/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1915.html [prospélasi̱ :̱ 25, Áv̱g, 2015 ] .

Mann , J. , 2015. 100 chrónia prin - Poií̱mata apó ton Jamie Mann . [ epistolí̱ ] (proso̱pikí̱ epikoino̱nía , 25, Av̱goústou 2015 ) .

http:̱//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11812498/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1915.html

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