A Memoir — Julian & Billy Grenfell and Francis & Riversdale Grenfell

The book amalgamates two publications on the Grenfell cousins, Julian and Billy, Francis and Riversdale. The four of them would give their lives for King and Country during the first year of the First World War with Francis winning the Victoria Cross and Julian the Distinguished Service Order. Julian was a poet who wrote the well-known poem ‘Into Battle’ amongst many others. Julian, 3rd Baron Grenfell, who was named after his illustrious relation, has kindly written a fascinating introduction to the publication, that provides a contemporary and valuable insight to the family. Their separate but intertwined lives prior to and during the war provide a fascinating insight into the attitudes of society, the language and a way of life that vanished at the conclusion of the war. Within ten months the four of them had been killed after seeing the horrors of the First World War from the beginning. Riversdale was the first to die on Friday 4th September 1914 and in 1915 Francis died on Monday 24th May, two days later Julian succumbed to his wounds on Wednesday 26th and finally Billy who was killed on Friday 30th July 1915. We will never know what contribution they would have made to society, like so many their promising futures were cut short. In Part III there are cameos on eighty-six personalities plus extensive notes on events mentioned in his letters. 322 pages